Who is Marjorie Taylor Greene?

Who is Marjorie Taylor Greene?
Source: Elijah Nouvelage, Reuters
Her victory is notable for one reason: Greene is the first person to win a national election as someone who has embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory.

A Republican candidate winning a seat in the United States House of Representatives in traditionally red Georgia might not seem particularly noteworthy. Since it was created following the 2010 census, the district, Georgia’s 14th, which occupies the northwest corner of the state, has been solidly Republican.

When former Representative Tom Graves retired earlier this year, the seat was essentially preordained for whichever Republican candidate emerged victorious out of the crowded primary. Ultimately, that winner was Marjorie Taylor Greene, a businesswoman with no prior political experience.

Greene’s victory on Tuesday was all but assured, especially after her Democratic challenger, Kevin Van Ausdal, dropped out of the race in September. By all accounts, Greene’s entrance into Congress appears unremarkable. However, her victory is notable for one reason: Greene is the first person to win a national election as someone who has embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s business background

Greene was born in 1974 in Milledgeville, Georgia, attended high school in Cumming, Georgia, and then studied business administration in marketing at the University of Georgia. On her campaign website, she describes herself as a “conservative businesswoman” and says she has “a lifetime of business experience, having grown up working in her family’s company.”

Greene married her husband, Perry Greene, in 1997. Five years later, the couple bought Taylor Commercial, an Alpharetta, Georgia-based construction company. Her husband is the company’s president, while Greene has been the vice president.

In 2007, Greene was introduced to CrossFit, a high-intensity fitness regime in which she participated competitively. She grew so invested in the program that a few years later she became an owner and coach at CrossFit Passion, a gym located in Alpharetta, which she has since sold (it is now United Performance).

Greene and her husband have three children together: Lauren, Taylor and Derek. Her website states she has “a strong Christian faith.”

MAGA Marjorie Greene

Initially, Greene was going to run for Georgia’s 6th district, but when Representative Graves announced his intention to retire, she shifted her focus to the 14th district.

Prior to running for office, she was an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump who espoused hard-line conservative views. She praised Trump on Twitter for moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a decision Trump has said was done to please Evangelical Christians.

Greene has shared conservative views on her Twitter account, as when she advocated for having armed guards in schools in response to the Santa Fe school shooting in May 2018. She has also said she objects to wearing masks for COVID-19 and in a January 2019 tweet, claimed “feminists … hate everyone.”

In September, the National Rifle Association endorsed Greene’s House candidacy, giving her a rating of “AQ.” She was considered a pro-gun candidate based on her statements, though she did not have a voting record to review.

That month, Greene posted a since-removed photoshopped photo on Facebook of her standing with a gun next to progressive House Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Greene’s post stated, “We need strong conservative Christians to go on the offense against these socialists who want to rip our country apart.”

Greene also advocated arresting Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for treason, calling her “un-American” and claiming “every decision she makes using American’s tax dollars, is about making sure our southern border is open to drug cartels, human trafficking, and a full on illegal invasion.”

After winning the primary in August, Greene received a Twitter congratulations from Trump, who called her a “future Republican Star” and said she was “strong on everything and never gives up – a real WINNER!”

Greene’s support for QAnon and Pizzagate

When Greene won her primary in August, most of the coverage focused on the fact that she had previously made videos supporting QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory that baselessly alleges Democrats are part of Satanist cabal that engaged in the sex trafficking and eating of children.

Greene was just one of nearly two dozen Republican candidates who have made statements in support of the conspiracy theory. Almost all those candidates were expected to lose their respective races, but Greene’s path to the House was considered a foregone conclusion. Her victory on November 3 was the first for a national QAnon candidate.

Greene hasn’t limited herself to one conspiracy theory, though. CNN reported in August that she has also written a blog post about unfounded conspiracy theories related to the 2017 “Unite the Right” white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that resulted in a counter protester’s death. Greene claimed the killing was an “inside job.”

In a separate blog post from November 2017, Greene claimed there is “a storm brewing that is about to reveal the real source of evil in America!” The “storm” terminology was borrowed from the anonymous Q posts that had first appeared weeks earlier and would go on to launch the QAnon movement.

In her post, she also claimed Pizzagate, a precursor conspiracy theory to QAnon, was real and that “Hillary [Clinton] rigged the election against Bernie Sanders.”

In August, Greene appeared on Fox News and disowned the “QAnon candidate” label, claiming her past advocacy of the conspiracy theories weren’t relevant: “Never once during my campaign did I ever speak about QAnon or Q. My campaign message the entire time was ‘Save America, Stop Socialism.’” She added, “Once I started finding misinformation, I decided that I would choose another path.”

Nonetheless, Greene’s embrace of conspiracy theories – including public comments that allege the September 11 terrorist attacks were faked – have hung over her candidacy and will likely remain a point of criticism and concern now that she is a member of Congress.

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