JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — Those who rioted, assaulted police officers or broke into congressional offices during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 are now being received as honored guest speakers at local Republican events around the country.
Since President Donald Trump pardoned about 1,500 rioters on his first day in office, some of those involved in the attack are getting a platform to tell their version of events and are drawing praise in some conservative circles as heroes and martyrs.
Some are considering runs for office, recognizing that at least among a certain segment of the pro-Trump base, they are seen not as criminals, but as patriots.
His arrest roiled his campaign for governor. Now he’s back in the political spotlight
Ryan Kelley thought he had a good shot at becoming Michigan’s governor in 2022. That is, until he was charged with misdemeanors for participating in the riot. His campaign sputtered and he finished fourth out of five candidates in the Republican primary.
Three years later, Kelley says people ask him all the time to run for governor again. In today’s America, his two-month prison sentence for the Capitol riots isn’t the obstacle to public life it may once have been.
At a recent county Republican committee event in Jackson, Michigan, the 43-year-old commercial real estate developer was met with hugs and handshakes. Dozens of attendees hollered and clapped when he introduced himself as “your favorite J6er.” They gasped and shook their heads as Kelley recalled how his young son thought he was dead while he was in federal prison. They urged him to run for governor in 2026, something he said he is debating.
“I’ve done much worse and did no jail time,” said 58-year-old Todd Gillman, a woodworker and Republican chairman for the local congressional district. “Thank God people like Ryan Kelley are not intimidated by the lawfare that was used against them.”
Kelley, who did not commit violence or enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor trespassing charge. He maintains the judge who sentenced him made the decision based on the claims Kelley made about Jan. 6 and the 2020 election during his 2022 gubernatorial campaign — and not his actions at the Capitol.
GOP groups around the country are platforming pardoned rioters
By The Associated Press’ count, at least two dozen local Republican groups nationwide in recent months have invited Jan. 6 rioters to speak at regular meetings or special fundraisers.
They include people who only trespassed, but also rioters who were convicted and pardoned for more serious crimes, such as carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds or violently attacking law enforcement.
The Western Wake Republican Club in North Carolina in March featured remarks from James Grant, a pardoned rioter who was among the first to assault police officers and breach a security perimeter during the attack.
A Republican women’s club in Lawrence County, Tennessee, earlier this month hosted an event for Ronald Colton McAbee. He was employed as a sheriff’s deputy in Tennessee when he went to the Capitol, dragging an officer away from a police line and punching another who tried to stop him.
Some of the local GOP groups welcoming Jan. 6 rioters have faced pushback from their communities, prompting them to relocate or even cancel scheduled events. One such event in California faced so much public backlash that three potential venues canceled, according to TV station KSBW. It was held at a fourth, with protesters outside.
It makes sense that Republicans are featuring Jan. 6 rioters, said Matt Dallek, a historian at George Washington University who studies the conservative movement.
“Those who are pardoned can testify, like no one else can, to the horrific power of the federal government to destroy their lives,” Dallek said. “It’s a potent rallying cry, and also probably a potent fundraising tool.”
But there also is a danger to elevating them, he said. Many of those pardoned used violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power, and juries determined their actions to be criminal.
“It is, I think, a mainstreaming, a growing acceptance on the right of political violence, as long as it’s done in the service of Trump and his ongoing election lie,” Dallek said.
Some pardoned rioters are running for office
Jake Lang, who was charged with assaulting an officer, civil disorder and other crimes before he was pardoned, recently announced he is running for Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s vacant U.S. Senate seat in Florida.
Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader who was sentenced to 22 years in prison before his full pardon, said in an interview with Newsmax that he will take a “serious look at running for office” in 2026 or 2028 and believes his “future is in politics.”
In Texas, pardoned rioter Ryan Nichols announced a run for Congress but withdrew days later.
Kelley said he is mulling a 2026 campaign for governor, but is not sure he can commit his young family to the grind of the campaign.
Still, he recognizes that Trump’s pardons have opened a window of opportunity.
“Now is kind of the time that I could catapult with that, right?” he said in an interview. “We get a lot of hate, but I’m also going to get a lot of support.”
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