Executive Summary
The Exposing Extremism in Elections report documents how extremist narratives, once largely relegated to the fringe, are making inroads into mainstream politics, specifically electoral campaigns. The report highlights campaign communications that employ narratives and rhetoric crafted by extremist movements and the political hard right. While some candidates in the dataset may have connections to SPLC-designated hate and antigovernment groups, this report does not seek to classify them as extremists. Instead, it shows how extremist rhetoric and narratives have seeped into mainstream politics and are now being peddled in electoral campaigns.
The report analyzes a snapshot of campaign communications from candidates at all levels of office issued in March and April 2024. In total, we analyzed 136 campaign communications from 108 different candidates. Communications from candidates for federal office are most common (43%), followed by state-level candidates (37%), and candidates for local office (20%).
More than half of the campaign communications come from candidates in either the Southeast (31%) or Southwest (25%). One hundred eighty-four extremist narratives are represented in the 136 communications, demonstrating how extremist ideologies frequently overlap and reinforce one another in campaigns. Forty-three hate and antigovernment groups are represented among the candidates for office. In many cases, a single candidate is connected to multiple organizations. Three candidates represented in the dataset were prosecuted for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
The analysis of campaign rhetoric from 2024 shows:
- White nationalist ideology is being laundered through campaign rhetoric that targets multiple marginalized communities, most notably immigrant, Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities.
- Anti-LGBTQ+ ideology animates rhetorical attacks on public education.
- Christian supremacist rhetoric reinforces antigovernment conspiracies and advances an agenda to diminish bodily autonomy of pregnant and LGBTQ+ people.
- Election fraud conspiracies and constitutional sheriff ideology are predominant components of antigovernment rhetoric in 2024.
While the report covers a broad spectrum of electoral rhetoric, it is not exhaustive. The goal is to capture a sample of narratives and demonstrate the influence extremists are having in the 2024 election cycle. The narratives tracked are tied to extremist ideologies monitored by the SPLC’s Intelligence Project and correspond with rhetoric weaponized against marginalized peoples and communities. In turn, this data shows a notable footprint of extremist narratives being perpetuated by candidates in American elections and the threat posed to multiracial, pluralistic democracy.