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Chapter Three

Profiles in Far-Right Mainstreaming

All legislators discussed in this report belong to far-right Facebook groups, running the gamut from COVID Denial outfits, to far-right School-Centered groups, to groups influenced by ideas associated with the violent, racist and antisemitic Posse Comitatus [See Chapter 4, The Far-Right Groups for the range and definitions of groups in this study.]

The ten legislators profiled below, including seven men and three women, come from different parts of the country but have in common membership in a range of far-right groups. Their political activism and legislative agendas point to the underlying threat to human rights and democracy posed by the mainstreaming of such ideas and goals.

From Posse to Sovereign Citizen

Susan DeLemus

New Hampshire State House member Susan DeLemus is one of six New Hampshire legislators who belong to Sovereign Citizen-style groups. Sovereign Citizens call the federal government illegitimate and often use intimidation and “paper terrorism” harassment tactics to push far-right ideology and political goals drawn from the Posse Comitatus.

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From the Tea Party to the Paramilitary

Tammy Nichols

Idaho State Representative Tammy Nichols provides a case study of the radicalization path that moves from the Tea Party movement, militias, and the insurrectionary bent of the People’s Rights network’s mobilizations around COVID Denial, to attacks on “critical race theory” and the embrace of School-Centered far-right activism.

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Breaching the Mainstream

A National Survey of Far-Right Membership in State Legislatures

Copyright © 2022. Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights.