Lauren Elena Witzke (born February 9, 1988) is an American

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 ...

political activist known for her

anti-LGBT Anti-LGBT rhetoric comprises themes, catchphrases, and slogans that have been used against homosexuality or other non-heterosexual sexual orientations in order to demean lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. They range from t ...

views and promotion of QAnon. Witzke was the Republican nominee in the

2020 United States Senate election in Delaware The 2020 United States Senate election in Delaware was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the Delaware, State of Delaware, concurrently with the 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 U ...

, which she lost to incumbent

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 ...

Chris Coons. She is a former TV show host for ''

TruNews ''TruNews'' is an American far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Rick Wiles. The website frequently publishes racist, homophobic, antisemitic, and Islamophobic content. It has been designated a hate group by the Southern ...

''.

Early life and education

Witzke was born on February 9, 1988, in Delmar, Delaware. She attended

Goldey–Beacom College Goldey–Beacom College is a private university in Pike Creek Valley, Delaware. Its setting is suburban with a campus of . It uses a semester-based academic calendar and is accredited to award certificates, associate, baccalaureate, master's, an ...

, where she earned a

BBA Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

in business management. At Goldey–Beacom, she played softball as a catcher and shortstop.

Career

2020 Senate election

On September 16, 2020, Witzke won the Republican primary for the 2020 Senate election in Delaware with 57% of the vote, defeating attorney and former Marine James DeMartino. Witzke said that her opponent was a "

RINO Rino may refer to: * Rino (given name) * Republican In Name Only, a pejorative term for U.S. Republicans considered to be insufficiently conservative * Rino, a singer-songwriter who performs under CooRie * RiNo, the River North Art District north ...

", an acronym for 'Republican in name only'. Her candidacy was not endorsed by the Delaware state Republican Party who had instead decided to endorse DeMartino. Witzke's Senate campaign was endorsed by white nationalist

Nick Fuentes Nicholas Joseph Fuentes (born August 18, 1998) is an American white supremacistMultiple sources: * * * * * political commentator and Online streamer, live streamer. A former YouTuber, his channel was permanently suspended in February 20 ...

, who had marched in the August 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. Witzke accepted Fuentes' endorsement with the response of "Thank you, Nick!". During the general election campaign, Witzke claimed without evidence that

Hunter Biden Robert Hunter Biden (born February 4, 1970) is an American attorney who is the second son of President of the United States, U.S. President Joe Biden and his first wife Neilia Hunter Biden. He is also a hedge fund, venture capital, and privat ...

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

contained illicit images of "Chris Coons' daughter in addition to seven other underaged girls". ''

PolitiFact PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times'' ...

'' rated the claim to be false. In the November 2020 general election, Witzke was defeated by incumbent Senator Chris Coons 59-38%.

Media work

After far-right radio host and conspiracy theorist

Rick Wiles Rick Wiles (born August 20, 1953) is a far-right American conspiracy theorist, pundit, religious extremist and senior pastor at the non-denominational Flowing Streams Church. He is the founder of '' TruNews''; a website promoting racist, hom ...

was hospitalized with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in late May 2021, his organization

announced that Witzke would be filling in for him as co-host of the program. After Wiles returned, Witzke was hired as a permanent co-host of his show. As of September 6, 2021, Witzke has been let go from TruNews. In October 2021, she revealed she had contracted COVID-19 and said she experienced a loss of senses and "brain fog". She blamed COVID-19 testing done at TruNews for making her aware of her infection.

Political views

Witzke advocates closed borders and

pronatalist Natalism (also called pronatalism or the pro-birth position) is an ideology that promotes the reproduction of human life as the preeminent objective of being human. Compare: The term, as it relates to the belief itself, comes from the French wor ...

family policies, similar to those implemented in Hungary; opposes all

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

, and cultural globalization; and identifies as a

traditionalist Traditionalism is the adherence to traditional beliefs or practices. It may also refer to: Religion * Traditional religion, a religion or belief associated with a particular ethnic group * Traditionalism (19th-century Catholicism), a 19th–cen ...

and Christian nationalist. She supports a ten-year moratorium on all immigration. Witzke has criticized former president Donald Trump for failing to follow through on his rhetorical commitment with executive orders to complete a southern border wall and prosecute political rival

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

for mishandling classified information. Witzke has appeared on

VDARE VDARE is an American far-right website promoting opposition to immigration to the United States. It is associated with white supremacy,Sam FrizellGOP Shows White Supremacist's Tweet During Trump's Speech Time, July 21, 2016 white nationalism, ...

, a website that the

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

has called a "xenophobic website" and the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...

a website that "regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites". Witzke tweeted out her interview with VDARE, writing, "In order to preserve America, we must first preserve American families, our values, and our culture." In October 2020, Witzke defended the far-right organization the

Proud Boys The Proud Boys is an American far-right, neo-fascist, and exclusively male organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States.Far-right: * * Fascist: * * * * * Men only: * * * Political violence: * * * It has ...

and said at one point that the Proud Boys exemplified "patriotic masculinity" and thanked the group for providing security at her campaign rallies. In March 2023, Witzke stated that she "leaned" toward the scientifically disproven idea that

the Earth is flat The flat-Earth model is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of Earth's shape as a plane or disk. Many ancient cultures subscribed to a flat-Earth cosmography, including Greece until the classical period (5th century BC), the ...

Abortion

Witzke opposes

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

and supports overturning the 1973 Supreme Court decision ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...

''. Upon the

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President ...

in September 2020, Witzke said that "Ruth Bader Ginsberg's obsession with abortion overtly singled out blacks and minorities for extermination". Witzke also attacked her Democratic opponent Chris Coons for being a "Christian-hating baby killer".

Black Lives Matter

Witzke has described

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

as "violent terrorists" who want to "stoke societal unrest, and literally already has blood on their hands" referring to the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots in which David Dorn was killed by a burglar several miles away from riots in St. Louis.

COVID-19

Witzke has said that

is " satanic" and that

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 ...

is a "satanic plot" to cause "mass death".AustraliaIndia
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Immigration

Witzke has supported a complete ban on all immigration to the United States for ten years. She has also stated that "

nationalist populism Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...

is the future".

LGBT people

In March 2021, Witzke responded to a tweet from

Richard Grenell Richard Allen Grenell (born September 18, 1966) is an American political operative, diplomat, TV personality, and public relations consultant who served as Acting Director of National Intelligence in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in 2020. A ...

about a

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...

who had attended CPAC by claiming that

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

people are "mentally ill" and "demonic". She also iterated her opposition to both

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

and gay conservatives being welcomed into the Republican Party. Witzke has also said that Christians should "reclaim the rainbow" and celebrate June (

LGBT pride month LGBT Pride Month is a month, typically in June, dedicated to celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride. Pride Month began after the Stonewall riots, a series of gay liberation protests in 1969, and ha ...

) as "Christianity month". Witzke said that the

outbreak that afflicted TruNews was a "demonic attack" on the channel for having self-described " ex-gay"

Milo Yiannopoulos Milo Yiannopoulos (; born Milo Hanrahan, 18 October 1984), who has also published as Milo Andreas Wagner and the mononym Milo, is a British alt-right political commentator. His speeches and writings often ridicule Islam, feminism, social justi ...

and called him "Satan's favorite sodomite". While speaking on an online panel on the post-Trump future of the Republican Party in March 2021, Witzke attacked conservative trans woman

Blaire White Blaire White (born September 14, 1993) is an American YouTuber and political commentator. Describing her politics as center-right, White has been publicly critical of leftist movements and rose to fame as one of the few openly trans YouTube ...

, saying, "The best thing you can do for us is grow out your moustache and tell people not to live like you." On the same panel, Witzke also espoused the belief that trans people are " sexual predators" and "

pedophiles Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

QAnon

Witzke has voiced support for the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon, which centers on claims that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic sexual abusers of children operating a global child

sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the ...

ring conspired against former U.S. 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 ...

during his

term in office A term of office, electoral term, or parliamentary term is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a defined limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject ...

. During Hurricane Ian, Witzke suggested that "elites" may have created the devastating hurricane as a "deep state" attempt to punish Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and particularly conservative areas of the state. On the conservative "Shots Fired" streaming broadcast, Witzke claimed that she has "no doubt" that the technology exists to control weather catastrophes.

Russia

At the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference, Witzke described Russia as "a Christian nationalist nation", and said "I identify more with Putin's Christian values than I do with Joe Biden." She stated that "Christian Nationalist countries are a threat to the global regime".

Personal life

Witzke was raised

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

. She is a former drug user who reformed through a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

faith-based recovery program for which she later became program director. She is a recent Evangelical Protestant convert to

Orthodox Christianity Orthodoxy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Late antiquity, A ...

, received within the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), and was a catechumen during her Senate campaign. Witzke has stated she believes in the

flat Earth theory The flat-Earth model is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of Earth's shape as a plane or disk. Many ancient cultures subscribed to a flat-Earth cosmography, including Greece until the classical period (5th century BC), the ...