A Republican who has said he wants to see anyone involved in fraud during the 2020 presidential election executed could win the GOP primary in Virginia's 2nd congressional district on Tuesday.
Jarome Bell is seeking to challenge incumbent Democratic Representative Elaine Luria in November's midterm elections but he will first have to defeat three Republican opponents, including the perceived frontrunner, state Senator Jen Kiggans.
Bell made headlines in September when he tweeted about a controversial audit of the 2020 presidential election that was carried out by the firm Cyber Ninjas in Maricopa County, Arizona and ultimately affirmed President Joe Biden's win there.
"Audit all 50 states," Bell tweeted. "Arrest all involved. Try all involved. Convict all involved. Execute all involved. #MaricopaCountyFraud."
The tweet caused significant criticism at the time and some called for Twitter to remove it. However, a company spokesperson told Newsweek in September that the tweet was "not in violation of the Twitter rules."
The social media site did later suspend Bell's account, however, and that account was still suspended when accessed by Newsweek on early Tuesday morning.
Bell is among many Republicans who have claimed the 2020 presidential election was tainted by voter fraud or other irregularities that cost former President Donald Trump a second term.
Courts have repeatedly rejected claims of mass voter fraud in that election, though the former president has continued to argue that the election was "stolen" from him and the Arizona audit was a focus of those claims.
Trump told a rally in Perry, Georgia in September 2021 that he had won the Maricopa County audit "at a level that you wouldn't believe."
"They had headlines that Biden wins in Arizona, when they know it's not true. He didn't win in Arizona. He lost in Arizona based on the forensic audit," the former president.
Nonetheless, the audit did not find evidence of widespread voter fraud and reaffirmed Biden's victory in Maricopa County.
Bell served as a Navy chief petty officer for 27 years and has positioned himself as a strongly pro-Trump and "America First" candidate. He is facing Kiggans, who is also a Navy veteran, as well as Air Force veteran Tommy Altman and Andy Baan, a former prosecutor and Navy veteran.
The Virginia Democratic Party has described Bell as "a copy of Trump" and "a MAGA Republican who believes the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen" in mailers sent to voters ahead of the primary.
Those mailers also claimed that Bell "would do whatever President Trump wants."
Newsweek has reached out to Bell's campaign for comment.
