American political activist (born 1993)
Laura Elizabeth Loomer (born May 21, 1993) is an American far-right political activist, conspiracy theorist, and internet personality. She was the Republican nominee to represent Florida's 21st congressional district in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections, losing to Democrat Lois Frankel. She also ran in the Republican primary for Florida's 11th congressional district in 2022, losing to incumbent Daniel Webster.
Loomer has worked as an activist for several organizations, including Project Veritas, the "Geller Report", "Rebel News," and "InfoWars". She has described herself as being "pro-white nationalism" and a "proud Islamophobe", and gained notoriety as a result of being banned from numerous social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, payment processors, vehicles for hire, and food delivery mobile apps for various reasons, including violating policies on hate speech and posting misinformation. Loomer has also been banned and removed from events, and had press credentials revoked, for harassment and causing disturbances.
Donald Trump sought to hire Loomer to his presidential campaign in April 2023, but his senior campaign advisors successfully discouraged Trump from doing so. By September 2024, some Trump supporters and others expressed concerns about Loomer's continuing presence around and influence on Trump.
Early life.
Loomer and her two brothers were raised in Arizona. She attended Mount Holyoke College, leaving after one semester; she said she felt targeted for being conservative. She transferred to Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, and graduated in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. Loomer is Jewish.
Activities.
2015–2017.
In March 2015, Loomer used a concealed video camera to record her conversations with Barry University officials, discussing the idea of starting a club called "Sympathetic Students in Support of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria". The school apparently asked only that the club's name be changed to "Students in Support of the Middle East". James O'Keefe of Project Veritas, a right-wing organization known for producing secretly recorded and deceptively edited undercover audio and video investigations about media organizations and left-leaning groups, released the video of the encounter, alleging that it captured a university official unfazed by the idea of an on-campus organization to support ISIS. Shortly thereafter, the university suspended Loomer for violating the student code of conduct and a professor shown in the video filed criminal charges against her for recording him without his knowledge. At the time, Loomer was an honors student in her senior year and the president of Barry University's Young Republicans Club.
According to a Hillary Clinton campaign official, Loomer and two other women posing as Clinton supporters attempted to "entrap" campaign workers into accepting illegal cash donations in July 2015. The official said the campaign had complied with the law.
On November 8, 2016, the day of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Loomer, as part of a Project Veritas stunt, went to a polling station dressed in a burqa and asked for a ballot under the name of Huma Abedin.
On June 10, 2017, she gave a speech to a crowd of "anti-Sharia" marchers in New York City organized by ACT for America and condemned "liberals who aligned themselves with Sharia law". She put a burqa on the "Fearless Girl" statue at its original Bowling Green location in lower Manhattan.
A few days later, Loomer left Project Veritas for the Canadian far-right website "The Rebel Media".
"Julius Caesar" play protest.
Her first stunt for "Rebel Media" was on June 16, 2017, when she disrupted a Shakespeare in the Park presentation of "Julius Caesar" in New York City, by walking on stage during the live performance shortly after the title character was assassinated. The Delacorte Theatre production reimagined Julius Caesar as Donald Trump with a Slovenian-accented actress as his wife, Calpurnia. Before being escorted offstage by security, Loomer shouted, "This is violence against Donald Trump! Stop the normalization of political violence against the right! This is unacceptable!" Loomer was arrested for disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing. Earlier in the week, performances of the play had elicited criticism for depicting women and minorities perpetrating the violent assassination of Trump as U.S. president.
The Public Theater New York responded by saying although they are "champions" of the First Amendment, the disruption was caused by "social media". On June 19, Alyssa Rosenberg of "The Washington Post" wrote that she did not believe Loomer was genuinely offended by the play, but was looking for attention and to collect a US$1,000 bounty that alt-right social media personality Mike Cernovich had offered to anyone who disrupted the production. Appearing on the Fox News program "Hannity" a few days after her arrest, Loomer said she knew that disrupting the play would result in criminal charges against her. During the interview, she objected to the depiction of Caesar in the play and accused the left of "systematically and programmatically" using "free expression as a pretext to incite violence".
A "Free Laura" website, soliciting donations for her arrest, had been purchased by Loomer's employer, "Rebel Media" owner Ezra Levant, six hours before the play started. Loomer also promoted a crowdfunding page for donations, which received $12,385 from 241 contributors, more money than the normal penalties for the charges she was facing.
In August 2017, she was one of several counter-jihad activists who were appointed "Shillman Fellows", with Robert J. Shillman contributing to her salary.
In September 2017, after three months, she resigned from "Rebel Media".
Since then, she has occasionally reported for the American far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website "InfoWars", as well as the "Geller Report" and the American Freedom Defense Initiative.
2019.
On January 14, 2019, Loomer convinced several men she met in a Home Depot parking lot, who she claimed were undocumented, to jump the fence with her at Nancy Pelosi's Napa, California, home. The group set up a tent on Pelosi's lawn to protest immigration before being removed by police. They were not arrested. A few days later, Loomer attempted to interrupt a speaker at the 2019 Women's March in Washington, D.C., appearing onstage to call the Women's March a "Nazi" organization. As she was escorted off by security, she shouted "What about the Jews?" On January 30, 2019, Loomer and others jumped the wall surrounding the California Governor's Mansion in Sacramento. They wore Mexican serapes and sombreros, with one wearing a large false mustache, and said they were protesting Governor Gavin Newsom's stance on immigration. They were arrested, given citations, and released within a few hours. Later that day, the group provoked a confrontation outside a Mexican restaurant in downtown Sacramento, live-streaming the event.
2024.
Loomer continued to advocate for the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump in 2024, telling "The Washington Post", "I'm happy to dedicate all my time to helping Trump, because if Trump doesn't get back in, I don't have anything." Loomer was brought as a guest by Trump to Philadelphia where he engaged in the with opponent Kamala Harris. The following day, Loomer attended events alongside Trump commemorating the September 11 attacks. Loomer had previously endorsed claims that 9/11 "was an inside job". According to anonymous sources on the Trump campaign, Loomer reportedly influenced Trump to publicly endorse various false conspiracy theories, including the claim that Kamala Harris hid her black heritage and the claim that Haitian immigrants were eating other people's household pets in Ohio. Loomer also posted a tweet referencing stereotypes of Indians, saying that if Harris, who is half-East Indian, were elected President "the White House will smell like curry &amp; White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center." Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right member of the United States House of Representatives, condemned this remark as "appalling and extremely racist".
As part of a promotional deal for the pet food brand Pawsitive on her Rumble channel, Loomer filmed herself eating dog food.
Conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Loomer has falsely claimed that school shootings in February 2018 in Parkland, Florida, and in May 2018 in Santa Fe, Texas, were staged, and that the perpetrator of the 2017 Las Vegas shootings was affiliated with ISIS. She claimed on Twitter that crisis actors were used for the Santa Fe school shooting.
In July 2018, Loomer said that a man arrested in South Dakota with bomb-making equipment and illegal weapons had been a "leftist antifa terrorist". According to the man's social media activity at the time, and per his brother, he was a conservative who despised liberals and Antifa. During the October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts, Loomer falsely said that the bombing attacks were a "false flag" operation orchestrated by Democrats.
In 2023, Loomer accused Casey DeSantis, wife of presidential candidate and Trump competitor Ron DeSantis, of exaggerating her bout with breast cancer to boost her husband's presidential campaign.
Following the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Loomer and other right-wing influencers amplified a false story claiming that October 13, 2023, was to be a global "day of jihad", a story that motivated a 71-year-old landlord in Illinois to allegedly attempt to murder a Muslim tenant and stab to death her 6-year-old son. After a fatal car crash in Long Beach on October 14, Loomer said that the crash was "Islamic terrorism", claiming that police had a gag order. Police later stated there was "no indication that this incident was an act of terror nor associated with the current violence in Israel".
In November 2023, Loomer was part of a study by the Atlantic Council, analyzed by Bloomberg, of Community Notes on Twitter regarding misinformation in the Israel–Hamas war. On October 12, she shared a video of a "pro-Hamas caravan" that had driven through London shouting racist abuse, implying the incident was recent. The video was in fact from May 2021 and police had made arrests after the incident. Loomer also tweeted false information about the 2023 Rainbow Bridge explosion in Buffalo, New York. She claimed the Federal Bureau of Investigation suspected a terrorist attack and that there may be a "Jihad plot" at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, despite the vehicle traveling on the U.S. side of the border towards Canada.
Loomer falsely claimed that a winter storm that occurred before the 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses was created by the American deep state using High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in order to benefit the electoral chances of presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
In 2023 and 2024, Loomer falsely attributed social media posts to family members of judges Arthur Engoron and Juan Merchan, who were overseeing court cases involving Donald Trump. Loomer inaccurately claimed these family members had called for Trump's imprisonment on social media. Loomer's misinformation was amplified by Trump to support his claims that Engoron and Merchan were biased against him.
In July 2024, Loomer falsely claimed on X that "Joe Biden is dying and final preparations are being made for him." In September 2024, Loomer promoted the Springfield, Ohio, cat-eating hoax, lying that the city is populated by "20,000 cannibalistic Haitians".
Campaigns for public office.
2020.
Loomer lost the 2020 United States House of Representatives election in Florida's 21st congressional district to incumbent Democrat Lois Frankel. The district was heavily Democratic, and Loomer's candidacy was considered a long shot. Frankel had represented the district since 2012. Loomer defeated five opponents to win the Republican primary in August 2020, receiving 14,500 votes out of 34,000 cast (43%). President Donald Trump expressed support for Loomer, tweeting after her primary win, "Great going Laura. You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet!" She also received endorsements from Florida Representative Matt Gaetz and former Trump adviser Roger Stone. The White House later downplayed Trump's support for Loomer and for Congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying, "The president routinely congratulates people who officially get the Republican nomination for Congress, so he does that as a matter of course... He hasn't done a deep dive into the statements by these two particular women." After her primary victory, Twitter and Facebook reiterated that they would not unban her.
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2022.
In September 2021, Loomer announced her candidacy for Florida's 11th district in 2022. She tried to unseat Republican Rep. Daniel Webster in the primary election. Loomer had initially declared her intent to run again in the 21st district. Backed by the group American Liberty Fund, Loomer was endorsed by Representatives Marjorie Taylor