Adrienne Washington
Cronkite News
Jacob Angeli-Chansley said he is not ready to give up on shamanism, but he wants voters in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District to know that he no longer wants to be known as the QAnon Shaman.
“I’ve never called myself a shaman. I call myself a shamanic practitioner. I practice shamanism,” said Angeli-Chansley, who rocketed to fame as the face-painted, horned-hat face of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“If I’m going to rebrand myself, it would be maybe ‘America’s shaman,’ because the QAnon label has been stigmatized with the number of sub-labels or subcategories, conspiracy theories, white supremists, terrorists,” he said. “I don’t want to be associated with anything that the media has already maligned.”
That rebranding comes as Angeli-Chansley mounts a bid for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, who does not plan to run for reelection in 2024.
Political analysts call Angeli-Chansley’s bid a longshot, at best, in the crowded, high-profile race. And they say it will be nearly impossible for the man who has been called a poster child of Jan. 6 to change his image.
