Derrick Evans, a former West Virginia state lawmaker who was convicted for attending the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is running for Congress.
Evans pleaded guilty to a felony for impeding, obstructing or interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder on Jan. 6 and was sentenced to three months in prison.
A few days before the riot at the Capitol, Evans, a Republican, was sworn in as a state delegate, a position from which he resigned after the attack.
Evans plans to run in West Virginia’s 1st District, which is currently represented by Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va. Miller hasn’t announced whether she plans to run for re-election in 2024, but if she does, she’ll face Evans in a primary election.
“Who’s been looking out for your voice the last five years? Carol Miller has had five years to leave her mark on Washington. Five years to make herself known. But instead, she’s left the car door open with the keys in the ignition,” Evans said in a statement announcing his campaign.
Evans cited election integrity, energy independence and border security as his top issues.
“I chose today to announce my bid for the House of Representatives because it is an important anniversary in U.S. history. While my name will indelibly be part of it, we should also use as a chance to remind ourselves about why democracy is so important and how easily it can be threatened,” he said in the statement.
In a discussion with NBC News late last year as he was weighing a run for Congress, Evans said he still thinks the 2020 election was stolen, and said he would do everything he could to interrupt the work of the Biden administration.
“If I could interrupt the daily — quote unquote — ‘work’ of this Biden administration, than I would be proud to do that because the work that they’re doing is not good for the everyday American,” he said.
Evans also said he would aspire to be a mix of GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul.
