Bethany Mandel, the controversial right-wing pundit, home-schooling advocate, and prolific social media poster, is running for county school board — as a Democrat.

Though the school board race in deep-blue Montgomery County, Maryland, is technically nonpartisan, Mandel’s campaign published a graphic on Tuesday listing her as a Democrat. The move quickly raised eyebrows online, and prompted a community note on X (formerly Twitter) stating, “Bethany Mandel has identified as a Republican numerous times on her personal Twitter account.”

Those who know Mandel recognize her for writing molten-hot takes and far-right political commentary. The most infamous was a column, published in the wake of the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, titled “We Need to Start Befriending Neo Nazis.” (Mandel is Jewish.) Her content can be cringey, like her column defending Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ wife: “If Casey DeSantis is a Karen, she’s our Karen.” She’s posted dehumanizing rhetoric, too. “Not nuking these fucking animals is the only restraint I expect and that’s only because the cloud would hurt Israelis,” she’s written about Palestinians.

  • TimeSquirrel@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    I’ve registered as republican a long time ago to vote in their primaries so just in case the republican nomination won the general election, it was at least someone I could somewhat tolerate until the next election. People do do this.

    • Nougat@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      There’s a difference between changing registration to vote in a primary and changing party label to run for an actual seat.

    • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Did you run for political office as a Republican at any point?

      Shes lying about her party affliction in an attempt to win an election. These are wildly different things.