In Donald Trump’s Republican Party, being in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, is far from a mark on a candidate’s record—it’s more like a credential.
Among GOP state lawmakers, plenty today can boast that they participated in Jan. 6 events. And boast they do.
Michigan state Rep. Angela Rigas described being on the Capitol grounds that day as a “highlight of my life.” David Eastman, an Alaska state representative, called it “an immense privilege” to be in Washington for Trump’s last ditch effort to stay in power. And for the true MAGA climbers, like Arizona state Sen. Anthony Kern, moving past police barricades at the Capitol and allegedly using campaign funds to attend the insurrection were far from career-ending scandals.
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In fact, a little J6 cred, it turns out, can go a long way; Kern recently announced a 2024 congressional bid.
Nearly three years on, the Jan. 6 insurrection and Trump’s efforts at thwarting the peaceful transfer of power remain deeply entrenched in the GOP—not just in Trumpworld or at the national level, but all the way down to the state houses where future results could be challenged in a repeat scenario of 2020.
According to a new tally from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee that was shared exclusively with The Daily Beast, there are still 15 state lawmakers serving in office or about to be sworn in who traveled to D.C. for Jan. 6 activities. Five of those 15 lawmakers even made it to Capitol grounds.
In total, the DLCC identified 59 Republicans in Washington on the 6th who either ended up in state elected office or eventually launched a campaign for one.
And some of the more prominent names on the list show how the biggest proponents of Trump’s efforts to subvert the peaceful transition aren’t going away anytime soon.
The list includes Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, the wife of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, as well as Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano. Mastriano, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022 but remains powerful in the state legislature, is also an example of someone who went above and beyond in the buildup to the insurrection.
Mastriano not only organized busloads of Trumpers to attend the day’s demonstrations in Washington, but also helped lead the charge to overturn results in his home state. He signed the open letter calling on then-Vice President Mike Pence to delay certifying the election, and he sponsored a resolution that would have given Pennsylvania state lawmakers the power to designate “alternate electors,” effectively stripping voters of their say in presidential elections. As for his whereabouts on the day of the insurrection, Mastriano said he and his wife turned around once “it was apparent that this was no longer a peaceful protest.”
“At no point did we enter the Capitol building, walk on the Capitol steps or go beyond police lines,” Mastriano has said.
One of the most prominent Jan. 6 attendees, of course, is current member of Congress Derrick Van Orden (R-WI). Van Orden has also said he left the riot at the Capitol as soon as it became clear that it was violent. But photos taken of Van Orden on Capitol grounds that day show that he crossed police barricades and stood on an exterior Capitol wall during the insurrection.
A Facebook screenshot of Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021.
Screenshot from FacebookVan Orden also paid for his trip with campaign cash, after he unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2020. (He subsequently won a seat in Congress in 2022, even after The Daily Beast examined his role in the Jan. 6 protest and the veracity of his claims that he never trespassed on Capitol grounds.)
Of course, Van Orden is far from the only Jan. 6 participant to become a lawmaker. And while the DLCC was only able to identify 15 state lawmakers who played a role that day, DLCC President Heather Williams told The Daily Beast that it was “15 too many,” vowing to “defeat all of them.”
“Democracy itself is on the line in the states in 2024,” Williams said. “If we do not win state legislatures, Republicans have already shown they will try to overturn the election for Trump.”
The other 10 active state lawmakers identified by the DLCC were: Janae Shamp of Arizona—who was on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol—Chris Miller of Illinois, Luana Stoltenberg of Iowa, Matt Maddock of Michigan, John Block of New Mexico, Donnie Loftis of North Carolina, Donna Henderson of North Dakota, and Mike Azinger of West Virginia and Bob Ide of Wyoming—both of whom marched to the Capitol. John McGuire, a senator-elect in Virginia who is also challenging Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) for a congressional seat, was also present on Jan. 6.
Williams touted previous wins for the DLCC, a group long neglected by major Democratic donors which has recently become more flush with cash than at any point in its history, despite no support from the DNC in the 2022 midterms.
In 2023 races, DLCC-backed candidates beat three Republicans who were on the list. Another 15 of the initial 59 lost their midterm races in 2022.
Four former state lawmakers or candidates have faced criminal charges relating to Jan. 6: Derrick Evans and Jeremy Brown of West Virginia, Mark Middleton of Texas, and Matthew Brackley of Maine.
Some of the lawmakers continued to defend and whitewash Jan. 6.
“Thanks to a complicit media,” Eastman said, “those in our government who obstructed the presentation of evidence have still not been held accountable for violating our national security and criminally obstructing a congressional proceeding.”
Block of New Mexico said he welcomes the challenge from the DLCC.
“I was proud to be in our nation’s capital on January 6,” Block told The Daily Beast in an email, “alongside tens of thousands of other Americans, to peacefully and patriotically support President Trump after the stolen 2020 election. If the extremist DLCC swamp machine wants to attack me for peaceably assembling and opposing election fraud, as per my First Amendment right, bring it on.”
None of the other 13 sitting state lawmakers returned The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
