Mark Finchem, a conspiracy theorist and election denier running on the Republican ticket for Arizona secretary of state, has credited his return to Twitter to Elon Musk.
“WHOA. Arizona Secretary of State candidate @RealMarkFinchem was suspended on Twitter. @elonmusk this shouldn’t happen a week before the election!” former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis tweeted on Monday night.
Mr Musk responded that he was “looking into it”.
Mr Finchem wrote on his Facebook page on Monday that his Twitter account had been blocked because he had been “speaking the truth with one week left until the election”.
“Tag Elon Musk and tell him to unban me right now,” Mr Finchem added.
“What tweet got me in trouble?” he wrote later. “Probably the one that made Obama mad when I told people to boo him at his AZ rally. Assuming he called some of his commie holdovers at Twitter HQ to mess with me.”
Ms Ellis included a screenshot in her tweet of an email from Mr Finchem concerning his ban from Twitter.
Mr Finchem’s account was soon back online later on Monday night.
“We are back!” he wrote. “Thank you Elon Musk for stopping the commie who suspended me a week before the election. Twitter is much better with you at the helm.”
In 2014, Mr Finchem wrote in a candidate questionnaire that he was an “Oath Keeper committed to the exercise of limited, constitutional governance,” according to the Arizona Mirror.
But on Monday night, he wrote: “I am not a member of Oath Keepers but there is nothing wrong with swearing an oath to the US Constitution, and I am not a violent man.”
He began the Twitter post with the words “I love the Jews” as he responded to an allegation that he had spread antisemitism by SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah.
“Elon Musk restored the account of Mark Finchem – a man who has peddled open anti-Semitism, is a member of the Oath Keepers, has posted violent imagery concerning politics and more,” Mr Obeidallah wrote on Monday night.
Mr Finchem has rejected the fact that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, and he has become famous for his support for baseless conspiracy theories, even more so than many other pro-Trump Republicans, according to The Daily Beast.
If Mr Finchem wins the race for Arizona Secretary of State, he will have extensive power over elections in one of the key states in Mr Biden’s 2020 victory.
Shortly before he won his August primary, Mr Finchem was recorded falsely claiming that former Vice President Mike Pence had orchestrated a “coup” to remove Mr Trump from power. He also accused Mr Pence of planning to “steal” the presidency in the next election in 2024.
He has said that if he were to lose his race, there “ain’t gonna be no concession speech coming from this guy”.
The future of Twitter is under scrutiny following Mr Musk’s $44bn takeover of the company after failing to back out of the deal.
Mr Musk’s Twitter bio now states “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator”.
Last week, Mr Musk said the social media platform mustn’t grow into a “free-for-all hellscape”.
But the Tesla CEO later shared a fact-free conspiracy theory concerning the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
