IREHR in The Topeka Capital-Journal: “20 Kansas Legislators are members of ‘far-right’ Facebook groups, report says” – May 19, 2022

IREHR’s newest report, Breaching the Mainstream, was cited in The Topeka Capital-Journal.

Andrew Bahl, Senior Statehouse Reporter, writes “A think tank found 20 state lawmakers, or 12% of the Legislature, were members of Facebook groups deemed to be “Far-Right,” including ones spreading COVID-19 misinformation and raising concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election.”

Bahl continues, “The IREHR report, titled “Breaching the Mainstream,” said the survey was of particular importance given the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection in the U.S. Capitol and the increase in misinformation at statehouses nationally.”

Bahl details some of the Kansas Legislators identified in Breaching the Mainstream.

IREHR’s Executive Director, Devin Burghart, was quoted in The Topeka Capital-Journal;

“We wanted to have some sort of indicator of how far-right ideas have moved from the margins to the mainstream,’’ said Devin Burghart, executive director of the institute. “Frankly, we were shocked by what we found.”

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