QAnon promoter wins seat in US Congress

A Georgia woman who has promoted the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory won a seat in the US House of Representatives Tuesday, meaning the controversial and widely debunked movement will soon have a voice in Congress.

Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had never run for political office before, was well ahead and projected to win her race for US House District 14, some two months after President Donald Trump hailed her as a "future Republican star."

But her promotion of QAnon -- a far-right movement claiming that Trump is waging a secret war against a global liberal cult of Satan-worshipping pedophiles -- has raised eyebrows.

"BIG WIN TONIGHT!" the 46-year-old said on Twitter after she took a commanding lead over her Democratic rival in the safely Republican district. "THANK YOU to the people of NW Georgia for choosing me to fight for them in Washington, DC!"

Her primary victory in August over a more mainstream Republican illustrated the radicalization of US politics ahead of Tuesday's Election Day, which features Trump facing off against Democratic challenger Joe Biden for the White House.

She ran on a "Save America, Stop Socialism" slogan, posted videos of herself holding a semi-automatic rifle and warning against "ANTIFA terrorists," and pledged to be Trump's "strongest ally in Congress."

Greene has repeatedly railed against Biden and Democrats, including reportedly using vile language against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and declaring that Democratic victories will erode American democracy and lead to socialism.

She has also called white men the most oppressed group in the United States.

And she promotes the smear that billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, a Jew who survived the Holocaust, was really a collaborator who "turned in his own people over to the Nazis."

In 2017, she said that "Q is a patriot," referring to the supposed secret whistleblower of QAnon who is working from inside the Trump administration to reveal the deep state's network of pedophiles and power brokers.

QAnon crept up three years ago on the fringes of social media but has since spilt into the mainstream thanks to widely shared posts on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Trump fueled the controversy in October when he refused to directly condemn the group, claiming in a televised town hall that he knew "nothing about QAnon," only to say minutes later that "they are very much against pedophilia."