(Headline USA) Jacob Chansley spent more than two years behind bars for touring the U.S. Capitol with a police escort in tow and peacefully ascending the dais where, a short time previously, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and then-Vice President Mike Pence had gaveled in the Joint Session of Congress to certify the disputed 2020 election.
Soon, however, Chansley may find himself on that same platform as a legally elected lawmaker.
The spear-carrying demonstrator—whose horned fur hat, bare chest and face paint made him one of the more recognizable political dissidents in the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising—apparently aspires to be a member of Congress.
Online paperwork shows the 35-year-old Chansley filed a candidate statement of interest Thursday, indicating he wants to run as a Libertarian in next year’s election for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District seat.
The district, in Phoenix’s northwest suburbs, has been overwhelmingly conservative in recent elections.
Rep. Debbie Lesko, a 64-year-old Republican representing the district since 2018, announced last month that she won’t seek re-election. Her term officially ends in January 2025.
Chansley pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding in connection with the Capitol insurrection.
He was sentenced to 41 months in prison in November 2021 and served about 27 months before being transferred to a Phoenix halfway house in March 2023. Chansley grew up in the greater Phoenix area.
Chansley is among the more than 700 people who have been sentenced in relation to Capitol riot-related federal crimes.
More than 1,200 have been charged in connection with the mostly peaceful political protest—many of them rallygoers who have been indicted simply for their presence on Capitol grounds, even if they did not enter the building.
Although Chansley famously posed for a selfie with Michiel Vos, Pelosi’s son-in-law, who claimed to be filming a documentary of the events, there is no indication that Vos has been investigated or charged for his presence.
Authorities said Chansley was among the first to enter the Capitol building, and he acknowledged using a bullhorn to rouse the mob.
Although he previously called himself the “QAnon Shaman,” Chansley has since disavowed the QAnon movement.
He identified himself as Jacob Angeli–Chansley in the candidate statement of interest paperwork filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.
The U.S. Constitution doesn’t prohibit felons from holding federal office. But Arizona law prohibits felons from voting until they have completed their sentence and had their civil rights restored.
Emails sent to Chansley and his attorney seeking comment on his political intentions weren’t immediately returned Sunday.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
