The sprawling far-right conspiracy known as QAnon has moved from the dark corners of the internet to the top echelons of government, as a QAnon believer was elected to Congress in Georgia. But in Massachusetts, Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern successfully held onto his seat against a challenger who had voiced support for the conspiracy, which spreads unsubstantiated claims about a widespread child sex trafficking ring run by satanic elites.
McGovern called QAnon a "sick cult" on Boston Public Radio on Monday, and warned that it should not be dismissed as some fringe phenomenon.
"We can't make believe that nobody will buy it, because a lot of people have bought into it," he said.
McGovern, who will be serving his 12th term in Congress, said he was pleased with the election results, as Democrats held onto their majority in the House, despite widespread discussion of their underperformance.
"I'm actually pretty happy with the election results overall," he said. "I'm somebody who believed progressives and liberals all across this country came out in droves. We can't take that for granted."
While Democrats maintained their majority in the House, they did lose seats in vulnerable districts, causing some moderates to blame their progressive colleagues for costing them seats, according to Politico.
"I don't think it's particularly useful or helpful or constructive or accurate to try to say that we could have done better had it not been for progressives," said McGovern.
McGovern said some of his colleagues who lost races either just ran sub-optimal campaigns or faced particularly challenging races, so blaming progressives, who turned out in "record numbers" to vote Trump out of office, is misguided.
McGovern said he's hopeful that Congress can reach a "tentative agreement" for an economic stimulus package to vote on shortly after Thanksgiving, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is now signaling it's a top priority for legislators when they return for a lame-duck session.
