A Texas gubernatorial candidate tweeted out a photo of a noose after the Capitol riot

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A Texas gubernatorial candidate tweeted out a photo of a noose after the Capitol riot and said 'let 'em hang'

By Yelena Dzhanova



A Texas gubernatorial candidate posted on Twitter a photo of a noose with an encouraging caption to violent insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol building on January 6, the Huffington Post reported.

The tweet — posted on January 15 by councilmember Martin Holsome and removed over the weekend — said, "Once more for those of you who don't understand... Starting in D.C. - let 'em hang by the neck until they are dead, dead DEAD!!!"

Holsome is running to replace Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in the state's gubernatorial race.

He is currently a city councilman in Rusk, Texas, which has a population of about 5,600 people. Over 77% of residents in Cherokee, the county that includes Rusk, voted for President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Twitter took down the tweet because it "violated" the platform's rules.

Holsome did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.

Holsome is part of a growing number of GOP members who've begun to publicly embrace and espouse the rhetoric of violent far-right extremists, like those who participated in the Capitol riot.

On January 6, the day that Congress planned to vote to certify the results of the presidential election in Democratic nominee Joe Biden's favor, rioters, emboldened by Trump's urges and pleas to protest the results on his behalf, stormed the Capitol building.

They organized an attempted coup. At least five people, including one police officer, died. Members of the Proud Boys, which is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, were reportedly present.

Upon news that the riot breached the Capitol building, lawmakers had sheltered in place and many evacuated.

Multiple Republican lawmakers across the country participated in the Capitol riot or the rally leading up to it. Some have even faced pressure to and acted on calls to resign from their posts.

Holsome has frequently expressed alt-right beliefs in posts on other social media platforms, HuffPost reported.

In the past, he's defended Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooter accused of killing two people during a protest in August.

"A seventeen-year-old does what any true, red-blooded American should do," he wrote in a Facebook post on August 28. "We are in a war on our own soil and he preserved life and property." Facebook has since removed the post, HuffPost reported.

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