Voters in a small pro-Trump county in Iowa have ousted an election auditor known for falsehoods and replaced him with a Democrat. Kimberly Sheets beat the odds by defeating David Whipple, a pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theorist
Warren County, which had favored former President Donald Trump with 57.3 percent of the vote in the 2020 election, attracted attention due to its all-Republican board of supervisors appointing David Whipple as county auditor in June. Iowa's county auditors hold the crucial responsibility of overseeing elections.
Whipple's appointment sparked immediate outrage when his history of sharing conspiracy theories on social media, including claims about the QAnon conspiracy and the 2020 election's integrity, came to light. Despite substantial evidence debunking these theories, Whipple had maintained his stance, even sharing unfounded notions about the 9/11 attacks.
Sheets secured a definitive victory over Whipple. She clinched an impressive 66.5 percent of the vote, while Whipple garnered only 33.4 percent. She later published a tweet in which she thanked her supporters.
Sheets's triumph resonated with many.
Sheets's victory aligns with a broader trend witnessed during the 2022 midterm elections and even into this year.
Across the United States, voters issued a clear rejection of candidates associated with conspiracy theories, causing many Trump-backed conspiracy theorists to lose at the ballot box. The red wave GOP pollsters had predicted last November failed to come about, and Democrats have over-performed in elections ever since, in part due to backlash against the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
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