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Who is Laura Loomer? Meet the Florida GOP Primary winner who inspired #FreeLaura and survived a Twitter ban

She will now challenge the winner of Democratic primary between incumbent US Rep Lois Frankel and Guido Weiss in the November general election

Laura Loomer became a right-wing favorite after her numerous eye-grabbing social media stunts, political statements and huge funding. She has now won Florida House District 21 Republican primary and will challenge the winner of Democratic primary between incumbent US Rep Lois Frankel and Guido Weiss in the November general election. 

Born in Arizona in a Jewish family, Loomer entered the race last year in August after racking up endorsements from the likes of Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Roger Stone. Even though Trump has never endorsed her but he has tweeted in support of her. She outraised her other opponents after pulling off nearly $1.2 million. She took donations from high profile contributors, including Lydia Brimelow, Alex Jones, Bernie Marcus and former US ambassador Eric Javits. Loomer told Jewish Insider in an interview that, “When I filed to run, people were mocking me on the left and the right because, I guess you could say, I’ve been a controversial figure, and a lot of people have very strong feelings about me because of the way that big tech and the media have demonized me." “Now they just have egg on their face because I’m the frontrunner," she added.

The Congressional candidate, the far-right internet provocateur has been banned from most social media, ride-sharing apps and money transfer platforms for hate speech and has relied on text messaging and emails to raise money. Here's a look at the controversies and fires Loomer may have stoked in getting to where she is now.

Three years ago in 2017,  she disrupted a Julius Caesar play which was taking place in the New York Public Theatre. During the scene, where Caeser is stabbed, she started walking towards the stage while taking a video and shouted, "Stop the normalization of political violence against the right!” After the incident, security officers led her out of the amphitheater and later to the police station. Soon, #FreeLaura started trending on social media and people started online donations for her legal defense. By midnight, she was released from police custody.

Not just that, the 27-year-old had been dubbed as a 'conspiracy theorist' by some in the mainstream media, including Bloomberg for promoting suspicions such as Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar marrying her brother and that a lone gunman may not have been responsible for the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. In 2018 when she was banned by Twitter after she targeted Omar and called her 'anti-Jewish.' According to a report by The Verge, after the ban, she went to the Twitter headquarters and she handcuffed herself to the building calling for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to unban her and remove other people she believed had violated Twitter’s terms of service instead. “We’re posting in real life,” Loomer had argued. “I’ve been banned on Twitter, and so here I am.” 

Loomer called herself an investigative reporter. Loomer was banned from many social networking sites and was allegedly accused of using hate speech in posts about Muslims. Later, in an interview with Jewish Insider, she said, “I’m literally the most censored person in the world,” said Loomer, adding that she has been banned from virtually every mainstream social media platform, including Instagram, Facebook and Periscope, as well as other services like Uber, Lyft and PayPal.

Soon after the news of her victory came in, the Internet started reacting to it, as one Internet user took a jibe on her 2018 Twitter controversy and said, "Laura Loomer wins congressional seat in a huge upset. she finally gains access to a Twitter account. on top of the world. the phone is immediately confiscated by yours truly as a pre-emptive Listing." While another user pointed out her history and said, "Laura Loomer has been banned from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Uber, Lyft, and other platforms for promoting bigotry & conspiracy theories. She famously chained herself to Twitter HQ in protest, wearing a yellow Star of David. She's now projected to win the FL-21 GOP primary," while another user requested Twitter to bring her back and said, "Hey Twitter, can Laura Loomer come back now?? #FreeLauraLoomer"