Idaho House candidate touts conspiracy theories, false claims on COVID, vaccines, more
Conspiracy theories, debunked notions and flat-out lies have erupted in political races across the country in this presidential election year, and Idaho is not immune.
In the race for a Boise district seat in the Idaho House of Representatives, a GOP candidate has used her social media accounts to openly share falsehoods and discredited conjecture on a variety of topics.
Republican Jackie Davidson is running in legislative district 16 B against Democrat Colin Nash. The seat was previously held by Rep. Rob Mason, D-Boise, who served one term and is not running for re-election.
Davidson’s Facebook page contains inaccurate information and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, vaccines and the so-called “plandemic,” and unfounded allegations about well-known people such as Bill Gates, Dr. Anthony Fauci and George Soros. She has shared posts that were taken down by Facebook.
When interviewed by the Statesman recently, Davidson generally stood by the posts.
Social media posts on coronavirus
Among some of Davidson’s recent posts are those focusing on the coronavirus.
Davidson has shared at least two posts about the so-called “plandemic,” including one that featured discredited Dr. Judy Mikovits and was taken down by Facebook.
In the “plandemic” video, Mikovits describes an unsubstantiated secret plot by global elites to use the pandemic to gain political power or for personal financial gain. The video grabbed national attention when released and then got flagged for containing bad information, and social media platforms began removing it.
Davidson also has had several posts about the medication hydroxychloroquine, which was experimentally used in trials to treat coronavirus and has been determined to be unhelpful and ineffective.
She told the Statesman that she is a “proponent” of using the medication, claiming, “People were getting cured in a couple of days” with hydroxychloroquine.
There is no evidence to support that claim, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise against using hydroxycholoroquine for COVID-19.
Southwest District Health Medical Director Dr. Clay Roscoe, based in Canyon County, issued a statement about the medication in August.
“Based on the review of the available evidence today, and guidance provided by the CDC, FDA, WHO and American College of Physicians, as of Aug. 11, 2020, there is not enough quality evidence to demonstrate that hydroxychloroquine has a clear benefit with treating COVID-19,” said Roscoe. “Furthermore, when using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, there is evidence of at least moderate harm, including a small chance that the person being treated with hydroxychloroquine may have an increased risk of developing an irregular heart rhythm and liver damage, and possibly an increased risk of death.”
The medication drew attention nationally in May when President Donald Trump said he was taking hydroxychloroquine. The president repeatedly touted the drug as a game-changer for those infected with the virus and has misled the public, saying he had “heard a lot of good stories.”
The FDA said the medication has “not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing COVID-19.”
The medication is used for malaria and certain autoimmune conditions, such as lupus.
Posts on vaccines
When asked about the use of vaccines, Davidson said she believes they should be a right, not a mandate, and she has concerns about a coronavirus vaccine.
“To say things like, ‘You can’t work here,’ or, ‘You can’t go to the grocery until you have a vaccine,’ no,” she said. “That is too much government overreach, too much government control. It’s Marxist, to be blunt.”
On her Facebook page, Davidson has multiple posts stating that Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and an American billionaire, is responsible for vaccines that caused autism or paralysis in children.
That’s false.
When it comes to childhood vaccines, Davidson says it should be a parent’s choice.
“I think they are just giving too many,” Davidson said about vaccines. “I think it needs to be looked at. There’s kids who are getting damaged. I’m not against vaccines. I am concerned that they are giving too many vaccines to the children, and it’s causing things like autism.”
On June 15, Davidson posted a link on Facebook claiming that “there was no autism in Vietnam before Bill Gates brought his vaccines.” She called Gates “Enemy #1 in terms of our children.”
That’s false. There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism, according to many studies, and there is no evidence that vaccines funded and delivered by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation caused harm to children.
“Personally, having a brother who has autism, I find it personally offensive when people spread conspiracy theories about disproven links between vaccines and autism,” Nash told the Statesman when asked about Davidson’s posts. “That one hits home for me.”
Davidson also told the Statesman that Gates has “been kicked out of India” for providing vaccines that caused paralysis in children.
That’s false. There was an online conspiracy theory that has been debunked on many fronts, including by Forbes magazine and Reuters.
Davidson also told the Statesman that Gates owns the patent on coronavirus vaccines.
“It’s just a red flag to me that he wants to put DNA-changing chemicals into the vaccine,” Davidson said. “I’m just against that. We are bodies. We are humans that God made. We are intelligent. We are humans, and for Bill Gates to say lets put in this chemical that’s gonna change the DNA of humanity, or even microbots, I’m not for that.”
That’s false. There’s no evidence that vaccines change human DNA or so-called “microbots.”
Also, USA Today published an investigation into the subject of the coronavirus patent. Neither Gates nor his foundation has a patent on any potential coronavirus vaccine. The foundation does partially fund the Pirbright Institute, and that Institute does hold a patent — granted in 2018 — related to a coronavirus that primarily affects chickens. It does not hold a patent on anything related to the novel coronavirus, which is responsible for the active pandemic.
Conspiracy theories
While Davidson openly believes some theories, she said she does not follow QAnon, or Q, which is a growing conspiracy theory group in America that has been embraced by some Republican politicians.
QAnon is a far-right group with theories that allege several wealthy people and celebrities are responsible for things such as child sex trafficking, and they believe Trump is helping combat it.
Davidson has posted on Facebook about QAnon-like theories, but told the Statesman in an interview that she doesn’t follow the group.
She has several posts about sex trafficking.
“I have grandkids and I’ve raised kids, and I just think we need to protect our children,” she said. “I know there are some really good organizations here in the Valley that are taking kids who are needing to be rescued. ... I think our children are our greatest asset in the world.”
She said that is one reason President Trump was focusing on the Southern border wall, as an effort to end sex trafficking.
A May 30 Facebook post of Davidson’s had a large Q” on it that was about the “Great Awakening” and “Soros backed riots.” That references George Soros, a billionaire investor who people on the right claim pays for activists or “Antifa” to attend events. The claims are unsubstantiated.
Jackie Davidson
Davidson said she decided to run for office when looking at some of the problems Idaho and other states were facing. She’s lived in Boise since 1980.
“I really got impassioned to put myself forward to help Idaho stay a liberty state, keep freedoms, keep our gun rights and keep our rights as Idahoans,” Davidson said. “I would like to keep that low taxes, less government and family values in Idaho, and I just felt like there was a risk of those going away.”
She also said she wants to focus on the state’s growth if elected and hopes to see some funding made available to relieve traffic problems.
The Idaho Statesman reached out to the Ada County Republican Party for comment and did not receive a response. On the party’s Facebook page on Sept. 21, it endorsed Davidson for the seat. The post stated, “We stand behind her ideas on defending the police, lower grocery and property taxes, family values, and less government!”
Colin Nash
Davidson’s challenger, Nash, has been active in the Medicaid expansion efforts and the Legislature for the past three sessions.
“Having worked there, it’s clear to me that the things that keep me up at night aren’t shared priorities (in the Legislature),” Nash said. “Things like will my family be able to afford the health care to manage my son’s chronic illness? Will his schools have the resources to give him a good education? Is Boise a place that my family will be able to afford to call our home? These are issues that are facing just about every working-class family and they need representation that they don’t have at the Capitol right now.”
In 2018, Nash said he knocked on thousands of doors to collect signatures to get Medicaid expansion on the ballot. It passed with strong support after years of inaction by the Legislature.
“I’m gonna fight for their interests and I know what their interests are because I know the people,” Nash said. “I feel like my values are consistent with theirs. They can expect that same work ethic from me in the Capitol that I put in then.”
Looking at Davidson’s posts, Nash said he found some of them to be an example of extremism and others to be offensive.
“We have a crisis of extremism in Idaho and sometimes that looks like ... anti-mask protesters storming the Capitol and breaking things,” he said.
Sometimes, he said, that’s a person shooting a gun near counterprotestors at a Black Lives Matter rally.
“It manifests itself in a lot of different ways,” he said.
The Idaho Statesman also reviewed Nash’s social media pages and found no posts based on conspiracy theories. Most of his were about local news and politics.
“If we want a Legislature that represents the mainstream interests in Idaho, we cannot send someone which I would classify as (an) extremist ideologist to the Capitol,” Nash said. “We already have too much of that.”
This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
