Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man who gained notoriety as the “QAnon Shaman” who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, filed paperwork to run for Congress as a Libertarian candidate in the battleground state’s 8th Congressional District.
Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., announced last month that she won’t seek re-election.
Chansley stood out among the Capitol rioters by appearing shirtless with face paint, wearing a furry headdress with horns and carrying a U.S. flag affixed to a spear and a bullhorn.
Chansley pleaded guilty to a single count of felony obstruction of an official proceeding.
A federal judge in 2021 sentenced Chansley to 41 months in prison. In a sentencing memo, prosecutors described him as the “public face of the Capitol riot.” Chansley was among the initial group of rioters to enter the building, and he used a bullhorn “to rile up the crowd and demand that lawmakers be brought out,” the sentencing memo said.
Chansley shouted obscenities in the Senate gallery and climbed the chamber’s dais, the memo said. He photographed himself there, refused officers’ orders to leave and left a note that read: “It’s Only A Matter of Time. Justice Is Coming!”
Prosecutors noted that Chansley, who pushed the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, used social media to spread “false information and hateful rhetoric” that provoked the Capitol attack.
Chansley served about 27 months in prison before he was transferred to a halfway house in Phoenix in March, according to The Associated Press.
At a hearing, his original lawyer, Albert Watkins, said Chansley no longer wanted to be known as the “QAnon Shaman.” At his sentencing hearing, Chansley expressed remorse for his actions, which he called “indefensible.”
“I was wrong for entering the Capitol,” he told the judge. “I have no excuse. No excuse whatsoever.”
