On Wednesday, Rhode Island Republicans nominated Victor Mellor, a registered foreign agent and self-described “J6er” who was present during the deadly Capitol riot, in a congressional race to challenge the Democratic incumbent in a safe blue seat.
Republicans were already facing an uphill battle in Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District to unseat the incumbent Democrat, Rep. Seth Magaziner, and Mellor’s nomination won’t help. Mellor, as I’ve written previously, is registered as a foreign agent and has worked for members of Cuba’s communist regime, and far-right influencer Michael Flynn and disgraced former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani have both campaigned for Mellor.
Mellor won nearly 60% of the vote in his primary against Stephen Skoly, an oral surgeon who garnered conservative media attention for his opposition to some Covid-19 safety measures. Skoly was the candidate backed by Rhode Island’s Republican Party. A Republican hasn’t won a campaign for statewide or federal office in Rhode Island since Dan Carcieri’s 2006 gubernatorial win, and that reality likely fueled concerns within the party about a pro-insurrectionist lobbyist for Cuba as their nominee.
But Mellor’s win underscores the strain of extremism coursing through the Republican Party that is so alluring that some voters make a host of illogical, politically self-injurious decisions. As an example from among Mellor’s many red flags, it’s clearly inconvenient for the GOP’s anti-“communist” propaganda that its own voters don’t see a problem nominating a lobbyist tied to a literal communist government.
For the record, Mellor never received President Donald Trump’s endorsement during the primary, although he has said he ultimately will.
Skoly predicted during the campaign that Mellor would “get destroyed in a general election” if he won the primary. And that’s certainly a possibility. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the district by around 7 points back in 2024, and Magaziner outperformed her in his congressional race that year. This year, Magaziner could benefit from anti-MAGA, anti-Trump fury that’s been brewing nationwide and manifesting in various polls ahead of the midterm elections.
In world where Republicans are called upon as often as Democrats to answer for and rebuke supposed extremism within their ranks, Mellor — who is arguably among the most extreme candidates in the nation — would be an albatross around virtually every Republican candidate’s neck from now until Election Day.
Magaziner is already doing his part to make that so. He released a statement to NBC 10 after Mellor was projected as the winner, rebuking his loyalty to Trump and his appearance at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and announcing a press conference on Thursday alongside police officers who defended the Capitol on that day.
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