Far-right candidate Laura Loomer lost a Florida Republican primary challenge against House incumbent Dan Webster but has nonetheless refused to concede and instead demanded Webster resign.
In a speech to her supporters, Loomer declared herself a "winner" and alleged she was the victim of election fraud, employing language former Republican President Donald Trump continually used to attack the democratic process since losing the 2020 presidential election and inciting the January 6 insurrection.
After referring to the Republican Party as "broken to its core," Loomer called Webster a "RINO," or Republicans In Name Only, a pejorative applied to Republican officials whose positions don't align with everything GOP leadership does and that in recent years has been applied to any Republican who criticizes or disagrees with Trump.
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Loomer said:
“I”m not conceding, because I’m a winner! And the reality is this Republican Party is broken to its core."
“What we have done tonight is really, honestly shocked the nation. We have further exposed a corruption within our own feckless, cowardly Republican Party."
"And that is exactly the reason why, right, I decided to go against the RINO Republican Daniel Webster, do-nothing Daniel Webster.”
Later, in a follow-up tweet, Loomer encouraged her supporters not to vote for Webster in November's midterm elections and defy "the corrupt ESTABLISHMENT RNC and Big Tech voter fraud machine is propping his feeble body up and depriving my constituents of the representation they deserve and need."
Loomer then called for Webster to resign—and even found time to share more disproven conspiracies about the mental faculties of Democratic President Joe Biden that have persisted since Trump branded him "Sleepy Joe" on the campaign trail and cast doubt on his capacity to lead.
She wrote:
"I am calling for Daniel Webster to RESIGN, because everyone knows he is beyond unfit to serve."
"He didn't campaign."
"He refused to debate me, and it's because his health is worse than Joe Biden's."
Loomer's remarks were swiftly condemned as an example of the denialism that has gripped the Republican Party since Trump furthered his "Big Lie" the 2020 election had been stolen.
Loomer's profile on the far-right has risen in recent years as a result of her Islamophobic and White nationalist beliefs.
A noted conspiracy theorist, she has worked as an activist and journalist for several organizations, including Project Veritas, a right-wing group known for producing secretly recorded and deceptively edited undercover audio and video investigations of media organizations and left-leaning groups.
Loomer has been banned from numerous social media platforms, payment processors, vehicles for hire, and food delivery mobile apps for various reasons, including violating policies on hate speech and spreading misinformation.
She has also made headlines for using press credentials to make disturbances at events, such as during the March 2018 trial of Noor Salman, the wife of the perpetrator of the June 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. Loomer was ejected from the courthouse by a U.S. marshal after she returned to the trial after being cited for harassing Salman's family.
