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Reprinted with permission from MediaMatters.

A Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate who was backed by, and affiliated with, segments of the alt-right media nearly won the states June 13 gubernatorial primary.

Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, narrowly lost to frontrunner Ed Gillespie, former chairman of Republican National Committee (RNC), by only slightly more than a percentage point.

Stewart, who was Virginia state co-chairman of President Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, heavily courted the alt-right during his campaign, which he announced in April 2016. While he was the co-chair, Stewart wrote multiple pieces for alt-right-promoting website Breitbart. Shortly after he was fired from his position in October for taking part in a protest against the RNC, Stewart gave an interview to Mike Cernovich, an alt-right-affiliated troll who has a history of promoting conspiracy theories. During the interview, Cernovich said that he calls establishment Republicans cucks because they like to see Trump get screwed over by the media, thats what they get off on. Stewart replied, Yeah, I would agree. The term cuck, short for cuckservative, is widely used within alt-right circles.

In March, Stewart did a question-and-answer session on the Reddit forum r/The_Donald, an alt-right-affiliated forum that has, in tandem with other alt-right figures and fake news purveyors, helped spread conspiracy theories and misinformation. Stewart wrote on the forum that he is opposing the establishments handpicked candidate, former Bush guy, RNC chairman, and cuckservative, Ed Gillespie. The Virginia GOP state chairman criticized Stewart, noting that the term was used by white nationalists. r/The_Donald would go on to promote Stewarts primary campaign, along with 4chan /pol/, another alt-right-affiliated forum.

During his campaign, Stewart also criticized the city of Charlottesvilles plan to remove astatue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, going to rallies to protest the citys action. He also responded to his critics by tweeting, Nothing is worse than a Yankee telling a Southerner that his monuments dont matter. Richard Spencer, a white nationalist who originally created the term alt-right, subsequently led a group of torch-wielding protesters in the city to protest removal of the statue. Stewart was the only candidate to not directly condemn Spencers protest. Stewarts stand earned him praise from alt-right outlets and figures: the neo-Nazi and alt-right-affiliated blog The Daily Stormer wrote that Stewarts actions showed how you win the game and how we go mainstream, while Occasional Dissent, a blog run by anti-Semitic writer Hunter Wallace, claimed that Stewart was taking a stand for Dixie.

After the close primary election, alt-right figures cheered Stewarts near-upset. Cernovich tweeted that the result showed GOP globalists that theyre all going to have primary challengers. He also said that Stewart showed them what one man can do with his populist revolution. Another alt-right-affiliated troll, Jack Posobiec, tweeted, Gillespie outspent Stewart 5-to-1 and barely won the race. Take note, Establishment. VDare, another alt-right-connected outletwhich frequently publishes articles written by white nationalists, claimed Stewarts heroic effort against useless consultantcuck Ed Gillespie showed nationalism lives.

Header image bySarah Wasko / Media Matters

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An Alt-Right-Affiliated Candidate Nearly Won Virginia's GOP Gubernatorial Primary - The National Memo (blog)