Ohio Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel voiced support for conspiracy theories that "liberal forces" and possibly the "deep state" were behind the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-racism protests in 2020, and the attack on the U.S. Capitol that was actually carried out by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Mandel has expressed staunch pro-Trump views and has already been endorsed by the former president's former legal adviser Jenna Ellis.
Barbara Comstock, a Republican who formerly served Virginia in the House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019, criticized Mandel's remarks.
"I don't think he actually believes this. But he says it because he thinks promoting conspiracies will get him the nomination - which is worse and makes him both unfit and unelectable".