The public will get the chance to weigh in on how they feel about those with alleged ties to January 6 as a number of individuals who helped to organize some of the events of that day or were present at the Capitol are running for office.
In their final opinion of this year's session, the Supreme Court ruled last week that Donald Trump and any other individual who holds the office of president has immunity for any official acts within their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority."
This means that Trump may be able to claim immunity from criminal prosecution for some of the actions he allegedly took on January 6, 2021.
The opinion came just days after an opinion from the court that found that the Department of Justice overstepped when it charged some people who were present at the Capitol building on January 6 with the felony crime of obstructing an official proceeding.
Now the public will get the chance to weigh in on how they feel about a number of individuals who helped organize some of the events on January 6, were present outside the Capitol, or breached the perimeter and entered the government building declared their intention to run for office.
Here are 12 of those individuals. Some are still in their races, some are out, and a few already hold political office.
Donald Trump
The man accused of inciting the mob who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 is running for president. It is his third time running for the office, which he won in 2016 and then lost four years later to the current incumbent, President Joe Biden. Trump never made an appearance at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but has called the protesters "patriots" and said he would pardon those charged if elected to office again later this year. In her testimony before the Jan, 6 Committee, former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson said that Trump allegedly knew that some of the Capitol rioters were armed, planned to go to the Capitol on the day of the riot and when told by his Secret Service he could not travel to the Capitol, attempted to grab the steering wheel from the agent driving his vehicle. Trump, who has denied these claims and has denied any wrongdoing, spent that day in the White House and did not release a statement asking that the rioters stand down until hours after the rioting began.
Michele Morrow
This conservative activist who has called for the executions of several prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and Biden on Twitter, live-streamed from Washington, D.C. on January 6. Morrow has said that she did not step foot in the Capitol on that day and has never been charged with a crime for her actions on that day. She claims the support she received from people following her livestream that day convinced her to enter the world of politics. Earlier this year she defeated her Republican opponents and the incumbent to earn a spot on the general election ballot in North Carolina. Morrow, who homeschools her children and has accused the school system of indoctrinating children, is running to be the Superintendent of Public Education for the state.
Jason Riddle
On January 6, Jason Riddle stormed the Capitol, stole a bottle of wine, and then took of selfie of himself holding up the bottle while standing in a congressman's office. He admitted to his actions and denounced those who committed acts of vandalism and violence that day after striking a plea deal with the Department of Justice. Riddle then spent 90 days in prison following his guilty plea to charges of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building and theft of government property. He is running for Congress in New Hampshire’s Second District, a race he previously entered in 2022. Riddle ultimately dropped out of that race in 2022 saying that he struggled to campaign while incarcerated.
Katrina Pierson
The former Trump spokesperson who worked at the White House is running for a House seat in Texas' 33rd District. She was not at the Capitol on January 6, and was not criminally charged in connection with the riot at the Capitol. She did plan and organize the "Stop the Steal" rally that Trump held earlier in the day on January 6 at a separate location. That event ended with attendees then marching towards the Capitol. A House Select Committee report on the events of January 6 alleged that Pierson was in contact with some of those who were later charged for their actions on January 6 in the days leading up to the riot, including members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
Anthony Kern
The Arizona senator not only flew into Washington DC to attend Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally and then march down to the Capitol on January 6, but was later accused in a campaign finance complaint of funding the trip using money from political donors. Kern never entered the Capitol, but authorities say he was also one of the state legislators who signed a document that falsely certified the election for Trump in Arizona despite Biden's victory in the state. In April, a grand jury indicted him on charges of forgery, conspiracy and fraudulent schemes in connection with certification. He has yet to enter a plea and despite this pending legal battle is still hoping to move up the political ranks by running for Congress in Arizona’s 8th District.
Elias Irizarry
This 22-year-old is running for a seat in South Carolina's House 43rd District. Security footage showed him breaking into the Capitol on Jan. 6 by crawling through a window and later waking the halls carrying a large pipe. At trial, he admitted to breaking into the Capitol and received a sentence of 14 days in jail and a $500 fine
Those candidates are likely hoping their luck will turn out better than these seven candidates, all of whom were defeated or dropped out of their respective races.
Jacob Chansley
The infamous “QAnon Shaman" joined Kern in the race for Congress in Arizona’s 8th District. He filed the necessary paperwork to declare himself a candidate in November, but then nothing came of those filings. The state election board shared the news in April that Chansley would not be on the ballot after failing to secure the necessary number of signatures. One of the faces of the Jan. 6 riot, Chansley infamously wore a fur headdress, horns and painted his face red, white and blue. In its complaint, the Department of Justice alleged that he "quite literally spearheaded the breach" of the Capitol. He received a 51-month prison sentence after entering a guilty plea charges of civil disorder; obstruction of an official proceeding; entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a capitol building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building
Derrick Evans
Evans served three months in prison after pleading guilty to entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. The former member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for District 19 was among those who stormed and entered the Capitol on Jan. 6. Three days later he resigned from office. He attempted another run for Congress in the state’s 1st District, but lost to the Republican incumbent.
Kimberly Dragoo
After pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge for her actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Dragoo sought a seat on the St. Joseph Board of Education in Missouri. Dragoo, who was apprehended after posting a video that showed her storming the Capitol with her husband, lost that race in April. The judge who sentenced Dragoo to 14 days in prison noted that she crawled through a broken window to reenter the Capitol on Jan. 6
Phillip Sean Grillo
Grillo lost in the primary race to be the Republican replacement for George Santos in a special election held in New York’s 3rd District. Grillo entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 and was ultimately found guilty at trial of five charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Grillo, who claimed during his trial that he was unaware that Congress met or convened inside the Capitol, has not yet been sentenced. It is possible his obstruction charge will be dropped in light of the aforementioned Supreme Court decision.
Bianca Gracia
The Texas-based leader of Latinos For Trump recently lost her bid for the seat in Texas’ 128th state House District. The House Select committee report on January 6 alleges that Gracia facilitated a meeting between the head of the Proud Boys and the head of the Oath Keepers on January 5 where the two groups agreed to put their differences aside. She also helped to plan the "Stop the Steal" rally the following day. Gracia was never charged with a crime but she was subpoenaed by the House Select Committee in April 2022, and invoked her fifth amendment privilege to all questions.
Chuck Hand
Prosecutors say that Hand "participated in the riot on January 6, despite watching rioters assaulting police and seeing the destruction of property around him. He then celebrated his participation in the riot, telling his wife, 'Like I said it was a perfect time to be a. Part of history!' He then encouraged his wife to not turn herself in and to 'Deny, deny, deny.'" He was convicted of a misdemeanor of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building after illegally entering the Capitol and was sentenced to 20 days in prison. He then made a bid for the seat in the Georgia 2nd District after emerging from prison, but failed to make it out of the Republican primary earlier this year, where he was defeated in a runoff by Wayne Johnson, a former finance professional who most recently served as a Trump administration official with the Department of Education.
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