SPLC Action Fund Launches Exposing Extremism in Election Project

The project aims to educate the public about political candidates’ apparent ties to, or sympathies toward, extremist organizations or ideologies

Montgomery, Ala. — The SPLC Action Fund today announced the launch of Exposing Extremism in Elections, a guide to candidates who are running or ran for public office in 2020 who — according to research — sympathize with or have ties to extremist groups or ideologies. The list, which includes 162 candidates, new or incumbent, who campaigned for public office at city, county, state and federal levels, provides an easy and accessible way for the public and media professionals to research and explore 2020 candidates and their ties to such extremism.

The guide includes detailed information about the candidate, their election status and any ties to extremist groups and/or ideologies. The list provides the public with information about the candidates with apparent relationships to, or support from, both hate and antigovernment movements, as well as an array of extremist groups and ideologies. The guide also shows that extremist-tied candidates are not isolated to any geographic area.

“The disturbing reality of American politics today is that extremist ideology has made substantial advances among many politicians running in this election cycle,” said SPLC Action Fund President and CEO Margaret Huang. “Voters have a right to know the organizations candidates associate with and ideologies they follow, because if elected, these individuals will be able to influence laws, public policy, and political agendas at the federal and state level. The Exposing Extremism in Elections is an attempt to reveal these ties and beliefs and to provide the American electorate with the information they need to make an informed decision about who  should represent them.”

The research team that developed the list used a standardized method to identify and compile the information in the Exposing Extremism in Electionsdata set. The information comes from open-source materials and tips submitted to the team by the general public and verified by the team of researchers. The candidate and election information available in the data set was collected from publicly available election resources.

In addition to the interactive and downloadable data set of extremist-tied candidates, the Exposing Extremism in Elections project also offers supplementary materials and tools, including:

• A user’s guide for the Exposing Extremism in Elections data set and coding manual.
• Short summaries of newer ideological movements, including QAnon and the Boogaloo movement.
• Brief descriptions of the ideological sub-categories within the antigovernment extremist movement. 
• Links to additional articles and reports on candidates, extremism and the ties between them.

Disclaimer: The SPLC Action Fund does not endorse the viewpoints or vouch for the accuracy of materials or reports that are not its own.