Campaigning for a northwestern Ohio congressional seat, Republican J.R. Majewski presents himself as an Air Force combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Yet another Republican using borrowed glory to gain personal power.
“It bothers me when people trade on their military service to get elected to office when what they are doing is misleading the people they want to vote for them,” Don Christensen, a retired colonel and former chief prosecutor for the Air Force, said of Majewski. “Veterans have done so much for this country and when you claim to have done what your brothers and sisters in arms actually did to build up your reputation, it is a disservice.”
He lost what was seen as a winnable race in 2022, and Republicans feared he would do it again.
J.R. Majewski announced Saturday afternoon he will bow out of the GOP primary for a key Ohio congressional seat after a week of waffling on his future in the race.
His departure, just two weeks before the March 19 primary, is welcome news for the House Republicans leaders who have maneuvered behind the scenes to nudge him out of the primary out of fear he would lose the general election to Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican J.R. Majewski has centered his campaign for a competitive Ohio congressional seat around his biography as an Air Force veteran .
James Earl Jones retires from providing the voice of Darth Vader, Ohio GOP candidate J.R. Majewski is accused of lying about his military service, and the British pound takes a pounding.
The Associated Press reported that it obtained military documents indicating that Ohio Republican House nominee J.R. Majewski “never deployed to Afghanistan,” as he’s previously claimed. Following that report, Media Matters examined Majewski’s media appearances — including his time as a right-wing commentator — and found that he repeatedly told stories of being in Afghanistan.
Majewski is a former right-wing streamer who hosted the show Earcandy. He also pushed right-wing commentaries through his Periscope account. Majewski is a QAnon supporter and January 6 insurrectionist.
Media Matters has documented that he has connections to toxic right-wing media personalities, including antisemitic Gab CEO Andrew Torba; the January 6 insurrectionist group Long Island Loud Majority; election denying outlet One America News; and QAnon influencer RedPill78, among others.
The AP's Brian Slodysko and James LaPorta reported on September 21:
Majewski presents himself as an Air Force combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, once describing “tough” conditions including a lack of running water that forced him to go more than 40 days without a shower.
Military documents obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request tell a different story.
They indicate Majewski never deployed to Afghanistan but instead completed a six-month stint helping to load planes at an air base in Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally that is a safe distance from the fighting.
QAnon cultist and January 6th Insurrectionist Congressional nominee J.R. Majewski (R-OH) got busted by the AP for his lies about being sent to Afghanistan. In fact, the AP reported that Majewski didn’t go to Afghanistan.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur has represented Toledo, Ohio, for nearly 40 years. J.R. Majewski, who was at the U.S. Capitol during the 2021 riot, might end her career.
Liz Skalka at HuffPost:
TOLEDO, Ohio — Early on Labor Day, the longest-serving woman in U.S. House of Representatives history was riding under a cloudy sky in the back of a vintage, cherry-red Chevrolet Impala.
Marcy Kaptur was at the front of Toledo’s very labor-centric parade — a procession of autoworkers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, mechanics and teachers — smiling and waving from the glossy convertible crawling along the planned route.
There are few members of Congress whose constituents could pick them out of a lineup, and Kaptur happens to be one of them — a fact that might seem improbable given that the 76-year-old is the antithesis of the type of grandstanding lawmaker who is a household name.
Outside of northwest Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, Kaptur is probably best known for the longevity of her political career and for spearheading the legislation that created the World War II Memorial in Washington. But here in her hometown, at a pro-labor event with a not-so-subtle Democratic message, Kaptur is basically royalty.
“Whenever I see Marcy, she’s always welcoming to the people,” said Rachelle Roy, a 51-year-old letter carrier who ran up to Kaptur’s vehicle during the parade for a selfie.
That Kaptur was here on this day — at the head of the procession, in a city where organized labor wields significant political power — was no accident. The veteran Democrat has never faced a reelection challenge quite like the one she’s up against in November.
After losing a seat in congressional reapportionment, Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly drew Kaptur a new Republican-leaning seat anchored in one of the state’s traditionally blue counties, a move that she and other Democrats blasted as unjust and illegal — and one that might end her nearly 40-year career.
“It’s an unconstitutional district,” Kaptur told HuffPost, citing the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling that the new map fails to meet constitutional guidelines. “The courts have declared that, and yet the Ohio Legislature has chosen not to do anything. They’re a criminal class.”
No longer competing for a long-shot seat, Republicans nominated J.R. Majewski, a project manager in nuclear security who was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Majewski, known for turning a 19,000-square-foot section of his lawn into a banner supporting then-President Donald Trump, is running to win — and Democrats acknowledge that the contest for the Toledo-based seat will be closer than in recent decades. The race is a top target for House Republicans’ campaign arm in a year when the GOP is hoping to flip control of the lower chamber.
But Majewski, 42, has struggled to downplay his ties to conspiracy theorists and Jan. 6 after appearing at the Capitol with a livestreamer known for promoting the QAnon movement and saying it is “plausible” that a former top aide to Democrat Hillary Clinton might be a pedophile, The New York Times reported.
Kaptur’s ads accuse Majewski of breaching barricades to enter the Capitol, which he denies, along with any connection to QAnon. Neither Majewski nor his campaign responded to requests for an interview.
The National Republican Congressional Committee did not mention Majewski by name in a statement to HuffPost on the race.
“Career politician Marcy Kaptur has a 40-year record of failure for Ohioans, and her decision to be a rubber stamp for the Biden/Pelosi agenda that saddled Ohio voters with record-high costs has left her vulnerable,” said NRCC spokeswoman Courtney Parella, referring to President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
This is the 2022 midterms in a nutshell: Kaptur, a veteran lawmaker with plum appointments to influential House committees, facing a very real challenge from Trump Lawn Guy, who is also a MAGA rapper.
“My opponent was one of the ones who took busloads to the Capitol on Jan. 6, so you’re not dealing with someone who, from what I can tell, has ever done anything for the region,” said Kaptur, who highlighted her own seniority — she assumed the “longest-serving woman” title from the late Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers in 2018 — as well as attention to important local issues like cleaning up Lake Erie.
“I don’t really know him. No one seems to know him or much about him. I don’t know how long he’s lived here. So it’s peculiar. It’s a peculiar race,” said Kaptur, whose previous GOP opponents include Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, also known as Joe the Plumber, and a former state representative who lost his seat following a felony theft conviction.
Can Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) hold onto her increasingly GOP-trending district for at least another term? Or does QAnon conspiracist and January 6th Insurrection participant J.R. Majewski (R) flip it to Team Red this fall and add to the Q Caucus total? Stay tuned this November. Hoping Kaptur pulls it off.
