For the second time this month, a supporter of Republican congressional candidate Gabe Evans has been found to be promoting racist and antisemitic content online.
On Sept 11, Evans fired his political director for her long history of antisemitic and violent posts, revealed by a Colorado Times Recorder report.
Just three days later at a campaign field team event, Evans posed for a picture with a supporter, Erik Simon, who then shared that photo on his X/Twitter account.
Aside from the “OK emoji,” which is often used as a white nationalist signifier, the post itself was unremarkable, but it stood out from the rest of Simon’s feed simply by virtue of the fact that it wasn’t blatantly antisemitic or racist. His feed includes pro-Hitler posts, racist memes, and threats to kill Haitian immigrants.
Simon deleted his post with the photo of him and Evans less than two weeks later, but he didn’t take down any of his voluminous antisemitic and racist content, which he had posted and continues to post multiple times a day.
While Simon’s Twitter account is anonymous, the Colorado Times Recorder was able to identify Simon via other social media platforms, including his LinkedIn and WordPress accounts, where he advertised ownership of the EatAllYerFish handle he uses for X/Twitter. Simon describes “EatAllYourFish™,” as his “digital opus…Nothing is off limits; I am an adamant believer in absolute free speech & especially TRUTH.”
Simon attended a campaign event jointly hosted by Evans’ campaign and two conservative groups funded by the ultra-right Koch brothers’ foundations: Americans for Prosperity (AfP) and the LIBRE Initiative, which focuses on Latino outreach. A recent FEC ruling now allows groups like AfP and LIBRE to coordinate directly with federal candidates on printed election materials and paid canvassing.
After initially responding to a direct message on X/Twitter asking how he became an Evans supporter willing to spend a Saturday knocking on doors for the candidate, Simon blocked this reporter. He subsequently did not respond to email inquiries. This article will be updated with any response received.
Below is a selection of posts from Simon’s X/Twitter accoun, posted before and after his appearance at the Evans event. Warning: these images are disturbing and offensive.
The Evans campaign did not respond to email requests for comment as to whether it was aware of Simon’s social media activity when he posed with Evans, whether it asked Evans to delete his photo with the candidate, and whether it had any concerns that its hiring of Political Director Spindle may have led to support from antisemitic extremists. This article will be updated with any response received.
