Republican Ron Watkins ran for election to the U.S.
House to represent Arizona's 2nd Congressional
District. He lost in the Republican primary on
August 2, 2022. Watkins is a conspiracy theorist
and site administrator of the imageboard website
8chan. Watkins is believed to be "Q"
of QAnon.
Ron Watkins, the conspiracy
theorist and moderator of the 8kun website
widely
believed to be the dips*** controlling the “Q”
account that is the mastermind of the Qanon
conspiracy theory, and all of the cavalcade of
bulls*** that comes along with it. But wait, you
might ask… since when does this blog profile random
Republican conspiracy theorists and not people in or
running for office? Because Ron Watkins was thinking
about running for U.S. Senate for Arizona in 2022,
but instead, ran for U.S. House of
Representatives in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional
District."
The
Arizona
Republic
via The
Rose Law
Group
Reporter
Jul. 15,
2022
"Elected
officials
and
candidates
for
office
in 2022
continue
to
challenge
and
question
the
results
of the
2020
presidential
election
in
Arizona.
The
results
have
been
examined
and
re-examined,
challenged
in court
and in a
monthslong
ballot
review.
No
evidence
has been
found of
widespread
fraud or
error in
the
results.
Yet
candidates
deny the
outcome.
Others
don't
quite go
as far.
But they
raise
questions
about
potential
irregularities
they say
could
have
influenced
the vote
and
should
be
examined.
The
Arizona
Republic
is
listing
candidates
by
category
by the
race
that
they are
entered
in. This
list is
not
complete
and will
be
updated
throughout
the 2022
election
season.
Election
deniers
These
candidates
in
Arizona
races
deny
that Joe
Biden
won the
2020
presidential
election,
either
in
Arizona
or
nationwide."
"Online fame and
infamy can, at times, give people
unwarranted confidence and a false sense of
importance. That certainly seems to be the
case with Ron Watkins, the QAnon-linked
congressional candidate in Arizona who —
despite being a popular figure on far-right
message boards — apparently has no real-life
charisma whatsoever. Watkins is suspected by
many to be "Q," the central figure in the
fascist QAnon conspiracy theory (though he's
denied the claims)."
"Asked whether he
supports U.S. military aid to Ukraine by
host Ted Simons, Watkins said: "I support
military aid to Ukraine but I want to say
that we would not even be in Ukraine if
President Biden did not shut down the
Keystone Pipeline on the first day [of his
presidency]." "Because now that that's shut
down, we have to get our oil and we're
getting it from Russia <derp>"
Apr. 29, 2022
AZ Right Wing Watch
- April 27, 2022 -
Clean Elections
Debate - Ron Watkins
claims the “biggest
issue” in the
district is the
border wall, despite
CD2 being nowhere
near the US-MX
border. Ron talks
about his recent
trip to the border
wall and laughably
claims to have
scared “coyotes” off
by simply looking
them in the eye.
"Watkins raised $83,000
between January and March
2022, about $20,000 less
than the the campaign
reported as operating
expenditures, according to FEC filings. The campaign
ended the first quarter of
2022 with $100,257 cash on
hand — all but about $5,000
came from Watkins’ personal
loan.
The Watkins campaign’s
fundraising remains far
behind other contenders for
Arizona’s 2nd District
congressional seat.
O’Halleran raised $578,000
in the first quarter, and
ended March with $1.7
million cash on hand.
Republican candidate and
former Navy SEAL
Eli Crane raised
$$647,000 in the quarter,
and has $483,000 cash on
hand.
Outside of the loan, the
largest reported
contribution to Watkins’
campaign in the first
quarter of 2022 was $3,127
from Rumen Naumovski.
Naumovski is the founder of
marketing firm Raww Digital
and Resist the Mainstream,
which describes itself as “a
media company for people who
have lost trust in the
mainstream media.”
Other contributions to
Watkins’ campaign include
$2,222 from Jeffrey Walker,
the founder of an Arizona
pool cleaning company, and
$1,000 from Avery Kramer,
who recently became the
chief operating officer of
biotech research company
Symbrosia.
Only 11 of the about 70
contributions to the
campaign in the first
quarter of 2022, including
contributions from Watkins
and Walker, are from donors
with Arizona addresses.
The campaign has relied
primarily on out-of-state
money and drew only three
donors from Arizona in 2021."
"According to an FEC letter sent
to Watkins dated March 28, the commission is taking
issue with an amendment to Watkins' year-end
campaign finance report. The FEC noted that Watkins
had filed an amended report disclosing additional
receipts totaling $20,626.15 close to 40% of his
campaign funds, which now total $51,214. Watkins is
widely believed to be the individual who seeded the
QAnon conspiracy theory. He is currently running for
a congressional seat in Arizona and has announced
plans to "double down with God as my compass to take
this fight to the swamp of Washington DC.""
"In November,
Watkins’
campaign told The Daily Beast it had been pulling in
more than $1,000 a day, and that it had other,
unknown sums waiting in unopened envelopes. (In
November, the campaign said those funds came from a
“light” trial run, and that it would soon enter a
new phase in fundraising.) Of the donors named in
the campaign’s itemized receipts, only one even
lives in Arizona. And only one donated less than
$250. So much for a grassroots Arizona political
movement."
"The FBI has raided the home
of a Republican election official in Colorado
accused of facilitating the leak of sensitive
election data to QAnon influencer Ron Watkins. [...]
Peters became a superstar in the world of election
fraud conspiracy theories when she appeared on stage
at the Cyber Symposium organized by MyPillow CEO and
conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell in August."
"Watkins is widely believed to
have been behind Q, the purported government insider
whose posts on 8chan gave rise to the QAnon
conspiracy theory that satanic pedophiles control
the world. While he’s denied playing the part of Q,
Watkins posts in much the same style as Q once did."
"Earlier this month,
Watkins
announced his intention to run as a Congress
candidate for Arizona and repeated the baseless
claim of widespread voter fraud in a video shared on
Telegram"
"Prior to coming to Arizona,
Watkins was living in Japan for about a year. Before
that, he had also lived in China and the
Philippines, where 8chan and 8kun were based."
"Though Watkins was an
important figure for QAnon believers before the
election, he's recently emerged as a popular
far-right voice advocating for Trump."
