Jacob Daniel Banta (born ) is an American politician and musician who currently represents the 4th District in the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

since 2023. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Early life and career

Banta was born in

Waterford, Pennsylvania Waterford is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,475 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Erie, Pennsylvania, Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area. Waterfor ...

, and grew up on his family's farm in LeBoeuf Township, Pennsylvania. Following graduation from Fort LeBoeuf High School in 1983, Banta enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, ultimately becoming a

Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...

; he was honorably discharged. After the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...

, Banta worked as a security contractor with the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

in the Middle East.

Political career

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, Banta ran to represent the 4th District in the

, following the retirement of

Curt Sonney Curtis G. Sonney (born July 31, 1957) is an American politician. A Republican, he served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 4th District from 2005 through 2022. Early life Sonney was born on July 31, 1957 in Erie, ...

. He won the six-person

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

primary election, and went on to defeat

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Chelsea Oliver in the general election.

Political positions

Abortion

Banta has described himself as "

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

." He has previously said he does not support a ban on abortion, but has suggested he would be open to one which makes exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.

COVID-19

Banta opposed mandates put in place during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He has promoted using Ivermectin to treat COVID, despite there being no medical basis for the use of the drug in treating the disease. According to Banta, he was let go as a military contractor over his refusal to get the

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...

. Additionally Banta said he now regrets receiving other vaccinations that were required of him when joining the military.

COVID-related conspiracy theories

Banta has spoken of a "

plandemic ''Plandemic: The Hidden Agenda Behind Covid-19'' and ''Plandemic: Indoctornation'' are a 2020 conspiracy theory video and film, respectively. Both were produced by Mikki Willis and promote COVID-19 misinformation, misinformation about the COV ...

" conspiracy and claimed COVID-19 was created by

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

Anthony Fauci Anthony Stephen Fauci (; born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical advisor to the president. ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

as part of a globalist plot to depopulate the world. He also claims the COVID vaccine has killed more people than the virus itself. In a Gab post, Banta claimed COVID test swabs, masks, and COVID vaccines contain lethal amounts of

graphene oxide An oxide () is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. "Oxide" itself is the dianion of oxygen, an O2– (molecular) ion. with oxygen in the oxidation state of −2. Most of the ...

Election reforms

Banta supports the overturning of Pennsylvania's mail-in voting law. He also supports

voter ID A voter identification law is a law that requires a person to show some form of identification in order to vote. In some jurisdictions requiring photo IDs, voters who do not have photo ID often must have their identity verified by someone els ...

, and advocates for the presence of serial numbers on ballots.

Promotion of conspiracy theories

Banta has used several social media sites, including

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

, Gab, and

Truth Social Truth Social (stylized as TRUTH Social) is a social media platform created by Trump Media & Technology Group, an American media and technology company founded in October 2021 by former U.S. president Donald Trump. It has been called a competitor ...

, to promote conspiracy theories and falsehoods sourced from various

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

websites. Some of his online comments caused his Facebook account to be suspended. He also claims the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

visited his home in response to his rhetoric, a claim which has gone unverified. Banta additionally administers a 5,300-member private Facebook paged titled "I am America." Several members have posted

QAnon QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". ...

content on the page. Although Banta himself has not posted QAnon content, several of his posts have similar language to QAnon conspiracy theories. Banta denies the result of the

2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...

and claims it was

stolen Stolen may refer to: * ''Stolen'' (2009 Australian film), a 2009 Australian film * ''Stolen'' (2009 American film), a 2009 American film * ''Stolen: The Baby Kahu Story'' (2010 film), a film based on the real life kidnapping of baby Kahu Durie ...

from President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

by Democrats. He also claims that Pennsylvania State Representative

Ryan Bizzarro Ryan A. Bizzarro (born ) is an American politician and member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and has represented the 3rd district since 2013. His district is located in Erie County and includes the townships of Millcreek and Fa ...

won his 2020 election because of fraud. There is no evidence to support either claim. Banta has claimed that the

January 6 Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then-U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in pow ...

was orchestrated by Trump's political opponents to sabotage his career. At the same time, he has voiced support for those who attacked the Capitol building, referring to them as "patriots." Banta has promoted the New World Order conspiracy theory, alleging mandates related to the

, gun control, and "stolen" elections were part of a plot to establish a global

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

state. The primary perpetrators of the New World Order, he claims, are the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

, and Democratic politicians, including President Joe Biden.

Personal life

Banta is married to Shelly, and lives in LeBoeuf Township, Pennsylvania. He has three children and two grandchildren. Banta is the lead singer and guitarist in his band Jake's Blues, and performed the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

at two of former President

's rallies. Prior to that he recorded with the band Double Trouble.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banta, Jake Living people Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives 21st-century American politicians People from Waterford, Pennsylvania Politicians from Erie County, Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people) United States Navy SEALs personnel COVID-19 conspiracy theorists