Examining Dan Bishop’s ties to far-right extremists, conspiracy theorists, and Jan. 6 rioters

Bishop has ties to groups and individuals who’ve spread racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories; denounced the separation of church and state; gotten into online arguments with the Auschwitz Memorial; and tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

As Republican Congressman Dan Bishop runs to be the next Attorney General of North Carolina, a closer look at his statements, appearances, and social media activity reveals a web of relationships with far-right extremists, conspiracy theorists, and Jan. 6 rioters. 

Bishop, an ultra-conservative with a long record of anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ views, has publicly boasted about his ties to the fringes of the right, including groups and individuals who’ve spread racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories; promoted the infamous “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory; denounced the separation of church and state; gotten into online arguments with the Auschwitz Memorial; and tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

If elected as the next state attorney general, Bishop would become North Carolina’s top law enforcement official. So, with Election Day right around the corner on Nov. 5, Cardinal & Pine dug into Bishop’s web of relationships to see what sorts of ideas and allies he might bring with him to Raleigh. 

Bishop’s ties to far-right groups

During his time in Congress, Bishop also associated with the Claremont Institute, a far-right think tank and Project 2025 advisory board member whose members played a key role in former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. 

John Eastman, a Claremont senior fellow, board member, and founding director of the institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, presented Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence with a six-point plan which sought to throw out electors and block certification of the election. Eastman also pressured Pence to violate the Electoral Count to delay certification of the election results as well. Eastman has been charged multiple times in both federal and state courts for his role in the attempted insurrection.

The Claremont Institute is also notorious for its ties to both white nationalists and conspiracy theorists such as Jack Posobiec, an early proponent of “Pizzagate,” the thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that posited that Democratic Party insiders harbored child sex slaves in a Washington D.C. pizza parlor. 

Despite being repeatedly disproven, the theory led a Salisbury, NC man to visit the pizza parlor in question and fire an assault-like AR-15 rifle. No one was injured and police arrested Welch and charged him with four counts, including felony assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a gun without a license outside a home or business.

Despite his role in fueling the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, Claremont gave Posobiec a fellowship in 2019. Additionally, Claremont has ties to The Society For American Civic Renewal, which the Southern Poverty Law Center calls “a far-right fraternal order.” 

Michael Anton, a senior fellow with the Claremont Institute, played a key role in mainstreaming the conspiracy theory that Democrats were planning to steal the 2020 election. He argued in September of that year that Democrats were “openly talking about staging a coup.”

Although the conspiracy theory had been bouncing around on right-wing forums, Anton’s post skyrocketed the theory to the mainstream — his essay about the theory was seen on Facebook five million times, and larger right-wing outlets picked it up. 

Edward Erler, another senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, promoted the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which states that the white race is under threat of extinction at the hands of minorities, and that the Immigration Act of 1965 sought to turn middle-class whites into a powerless minority. 

Despite Claremont’s history and reputation, Bishop spoke at panels held by Claremont in both 2022 and 2023. The panel in 2022 was focused on how to hold the “deep state” accountable for using congressional oversight.  

Claremont isn’t the only far-right entity that contributed to Project 2025 that Bishop has ties to.

Bishop received the “True Blue award” from the Family Research Council (FMC), a self-described “pro-marriage, pro-life” organization that has a history of opposing abortion rights and LGBTQ equality. The award is given to politicians whose voting record is perfectly aligned with the organization’s goals.

Bishop also regularly holds events with the FMC, and is a regular guest on FMC Leader Tony Perkins’ radio talk show. 

Bishop has also attended several events held by the American Renewal Project (ARP), which wants “biblical values” returned to the halls of government and envisions “every church in America having a pastor, elder, deacon, or congregant running for, or serving in, a local, state, or national elected office in 2024, 2026, 2028 and beyond.”

“The ARP is designed specifically to drive evangelical pastors into politics in an attempt to establish a Christian theocracy in America,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit legal advocacy organization focused on civil rights. 

ARP founder David Lane has also openly denounced the separation of church and state and has been bankrolled by the anti-gay and anti-Muslim American Family Association, which the SPLC lists as a hate group. Lane has also said that Christians need to prepare for martyrdom to “save the nation from the pagan onslaught of marriage equality and legal abortion.”

Bishop’s embrace of conspiracy theorists

Bishop has called himself a “follower” of James Lindsay, a conspiracy theorist who’s also promoted the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, the “white genocide” conspiracy theory, and false claims about a supposed communist takeover of the world. 

Lindsay has also attacked LGBTQ people as “groomers” and compared COVID-19 public health measures to the Holocaust, drawing criticism from the Auschwitz Memorial Twitter page.

“Exploiting the tragedy of Jews who were humiliated, marked with a yellow star, isolated, starved, dehumanized, and murdered in ghettos during the Holocaust in a debate about vaccination that saves human lives during pandemic is shameful. It’s a sad symptom of moral decay,” the museum wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in Dec. 2021. 

Lindsay responded by attacking the museum. 

“Don’t talk to me about moral decay when you stand on the side that will repeat the atrocities you claim should happen ‘never again’ unless men like me can prevent them. Don’t you dare,” he wrote on X.

Bishop’s also frequently promoted racist conspiracy theorists such as Mike Benz and Ben Weingarten. Benz is a former Trump official and alt-right internet personality who’s promoted the great replacement theory, spread exaggerated claims of government censorship, and blamed Jewish people for “controlling the media.” 

Weingarten is a journalist for RealClearInvestigations who’s promoted Benz’s theories about censorship and helped spread the conspiracy theory that Muslims are immigrating to the US in order to impose an Islamic State agenda onto the country. Earlier this year, he even published a book attacking Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to promote that theory. 

Bishop has regularly interacted with both Benz and Bishop on social media, has promoted Benz’s posts and his attendance at events, and all three men even spoke at The Heritage Foundation’s “Weaponization Of US Government Symposium” earlier this year.

Bishop supported a Jan. 6 rioter

Bishop has close ties to Steve Baker, a reporter for the right-wing Blaze News who was charged with participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol, a deadly attempt to stop Congress from certifying the election results. According to the Associated Press, Baker entered the US Capitol through a broken door after the riot erupted. He then joined the mob at the barricaded doors to the House chamber.

Baker surrendered to law enforcement earlier this year and was charged with four misdemeanor counts, including trespassing and disorderly conduct charges.

Baker reportedly received support from Bishop following his arrest, and when Baker pushed a thread on X which advocated for Congress to intervene and protect Jan. 6 insurrectionists from federal prosecution, Bishop tweeted that he was “totally for it.” 

Bishop also tweeted that he was “honored” to receive praise from Baker for his help.

Bishop himself also aided Trump in his attempts to overturn the election. Bishop falsely claimed there were irregularities with the voting process in his own district, which he and Trump both won handily.

“I’m echoing the President’s claims,” he tweeted two days after Election Day, when the race had not been called, but it was clear Trump would lose. “Indications of grossly improper conduct from election officials right here in my district.” 

As the results of the election were in the process of being certified at the state level, Bishop joined a lawsuit to contest Trump’s losses in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nevada.

Bishop continued his embrace of election conspiracies into 2021, and on the day of Jan. 6, he riled up Trump’s supporters and encouraged them to contest the election results. And just hours after the violent mob attacked the US Capitol, Bishop still voted against certifying the election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Bishop’s Democratic opponent, Jeff Jackson, criticized Bishop’s actions following the 2020 election, arguing they made him unfit to serve as North Carolina’s attorney general.

“He was a huge proponent of pushing the ‘Big Lie’ that was completely dishonest. He voted not to certify the last election when he knew better as an attorney,” Jackson said this summer. “He knew all the courts and all the judges had ruled the other way. But he decided to pander to the folks who stormed the US Capitol. He didn’t have the guts to look them in the eye and tell them that they were wrong.”

Jackson also warned that Bishop is a “political extremist” who would pose a grave threat to North Carolina. 

“In Congress, we have 435 [representatives],” he said. “The attorney general is one of one, and having a political extremist in that position would be an experiment we have never run before as a state, and I think it would be a very dangerous experiment.”