Joe Kent Is The Most Extreme House Candidate You Haven't Heard About

By Hunter Walker

Originally Published: September 21, 2023 1:59 p.m.

There's a lot going on with Joe Kent.

On the campaign trail, Kent has painted a terrifying picture of a nation under siege from violent terrorists and authoritarians. Kent, a two-time Republican House candidate in Washington state, has described "antifa" as "foot soldiers" for Democrats who stage murders and riots with "impunity." He's warned of a radical "trans agenda" designed to "erode the family unit" and replace it with "government." He's suggested that the FBI should "target" antifa but also be defunded, brought "to heel," and replaced with "constitutional sheriffs," adherents of a controversial movement that has been linked to white supremacists and militia groups.

Kent has promoted conspiracies about COVID and the Jan. 6 attack. He's called the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol "political prisoners" and advanced the notion that "government controlled agents" were really behind the violence as part of an effort to tamp down opposition. Kent has similarly referred to vaccines and quarantines as "tyranny" designed to "keep us afraid, obedient, locked down & dependent."

This terrifying fever dream vision of the country has helped Kent win support from extremists. However, it hasn't stopped him from getting official Republican Party support or having a real chance of victory in November.

A Special Forces veteran and former CIA operative whose wife was killed fighting ISIS, Kent first ran for the House seat in 2022 after the Republican incumbent, Jaime Herrera-Beutler, voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his actions on Jan. 6. Kent, who presented himself as being motivated by loyalty to Trump, defeated Herrera-Beutler in a non-partisan primary before narrowly losing the general election to the current incumbent, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), by less than a percentage point. Kent announced his decision to run again almost immediately after that loss and the 2024 race is currently rated as a toss up.

During his first campaign, Kent was linked to two prominent Nazi sympathizers. In 2021, he had a phone call to discuss social media strategy with Nick Fuentes. Kent also defended Fuentes when the firebrand was banned from Twitter. The next year, Kent conducted an interview with Greyson Arnold, a blogger responsible for a long list of racist, anti-Semitic, and pro-Nazi commentary. Kent ultimately disavowed both Fuentes and Arnold while he also tried to placate some elements of the far right. This led to a rift with Fuentes and attacks from a shadowy group that painted Kent as an "agent of the deep state."

Kent's ties to extremists don't end there. At a March 2022 protest against pandemic mandates, Kent shared the stage and posed for photos with supporters of "three percenter" militia groups, a reference to the inaccurate claim only three percent of the population fought the British during the American Revolution. Over four months last year, Kent's campaign paid a five-figure sum for "consulting" to a man who was identified by law enforcement as a member of the Proud Boys, the militant far-right group whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack.