In what has become a trend this primary season, Trump-allied Republicans are claiming fraud in their GOP primary losses. The latest to join this trend is far-right candidate and self-proclaimed Islamophobe Laura Loomer, who narrowly lost to incumbent Dan Webster in a Florida 11th district primary that was closer than many forecasted. Loomer lost by less than 6,000 votes.
Loomer took to the podium last night to speak to her supporters and announced that she is not conceding the race because she is “a winner” and that the “Republican party is broken to the core.” She then made claims of electoral fraud but did not provide any evidence, instead blaming Big Tech and the media. “We are losing our country to Big Tech election interference,” after noting that her campaign was blocked from most major social media sites. “This is election interference, this is the definition of voter fraud.” Loomer claims to be the “most banned woman in the world,” a claim she reiterated during her speech, and also called Donald Trump “the true legitimate president,” blaming Big Tech for stealing the election from him along with the “uniparty.”
Loomer was indeed banned from most major social media platforms, but those bans went into effect after multiple Islamophobic and anti-immigrant posts. In 2017, she responded to a post about 2,000 migrants dying while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea by saying “Good. [clap emoji] Here’s to 2,000 more.” She also took to Twitter to complain about how many Muslims Uber and Lyft employ. “Someone needs to create a non-Islamic form of Uber or Lyft because I never want to support another Islamic immigrant driver.” That tweet got her banned by both ride-sharing apps.
Also in 2017, she tweeted out that she “never wants another Muslim entering this country ever again,” finishing the tweet with the hashtag “#ProudIslamophobe.”
But it was her tweets directed at representative Ilhan Omar that proved to be the last straw and finally got her booted from the platform. In those tweets, Loomer claimed that the congresswoman was “anti-Jewish” and that her religion prosecutes and oppresses homosexuals and women.
Since being exiled to fringe social media sites like Parler and Truth Social, Loomer has doubled down on her rhetoric, implying that the Buffalo, NY supermarket shooting that killed ten people was a false flag event orchestrated by Democrats. She also previously claimed that school shooting survivors were being coached by the media.
In addition to Twitter, she has also been banned from Facebook*, Instagram*, Paypal, Venmo and GoFundMe.
This is not Loomer’s first electoral loss. In 2020, she won the GOP primary for Florida’s 21st district but went on to lose the general election against Democrat Lois Frankle by more than 80,000 votes. Donald Trump tweeted out his support for her during that race and Lara Trump campaigned with her.
While Loomer stated during her speech that she was not conceding the election, she did not indicate what her plans are; she made no references to a recount or litigation.
Many Trump-allied candidates have cried voter fraud during the primary season, echoing Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of fraud during the 2020 presidential election. In June, Nevada Republican gubernatorial primary candidate Joey Gilbert took to Facebook to blame “the establishment and swamp rats” for his loss and then filed a lawsuit after a recount showed that he lost by more than 20,000 votes. Trump-adjacent candidates in Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado have also claimed fraud, some before votes were even counted.
Meanwhile, Republican election officials have refused to certify primary results or attempted to disqualify mail-in ballots in parts of New Mexico, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
Webster will face Democrat Shante Munns in the general midterm election this November.
*Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is an organization banned in Russia