Democratic Challenger To Greene Says He Can 'Deal With Bullies'

DALLAS-HIRAM, GA — An Army veteran who says he knows how to “deal with bullies” announced his candidacy Monday for the Democratic nomination to challenge controversial U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican.

Marcus Flowers, 45, of Bremen debuted a slickly produced ad on YouTube Monday that took direct aim at Greene, contrasting her past support of QAnon conspiracy fantasies with his military service at an army listening post and as a contractor with “top-secret security clearance.”

“I’ve witnessed firsthand the damage done by extremism, radicalism and disinformation,” Flowers said in the YouTube campaign ad, “and I won’t stand by while people in Washington take us down the same path.”

Flowers, who is Black, is shown in the ad wearing a cowboy hat and striding confidently among military aircraft, with a pulsing rock-music soundtrack playing behind him. His video is every bit as aggressive as Greene’s early campaign ads, which showed her using an AR-15 rifle to blow up a sign that read “socialism” and later brandishing the same weapon to warn “Antifa terrorists” to “stay the hell out of northwest Georgia.”

Those videos have since been removed as Greene worked to soften her image somewhat after old videos of her espousing false QAnon theories were unearthed and published.

Flowers uses one of those videos in his ad.

“I’ve spent my entire life serving this country in combat zones across the world, but I never thought I’d see one here in the United States,” Flowers said, as the video behind him cuts to shots of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, then to a clip of Greene calling Q a “patriot.”

QAnon is an "umbrella term for a set of internet conspiracy theories that allege, falsely, that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles," according to The New York Times. Greene reportedly used exactly those words in a 2019 video praising the movement, which is supposedly run by an unidentified person known only as "Q."

“Her twisted conspiracy theories may have made her famous, but they haven’t done a damned thing to help the people here in our district,” Flowers said in the video.

After surviving a runoff for the Republican nomination, Greene easily won the Nov. 3 election to represent Georgia's deeply conservative 14th congressional district in the U.S. House. She's been embroiled in controversy ever since, both for her behavior while in Washington and her past support of debunked QAnon theories. Greene's antics finally led her fellow lawmakers on Feb. 4 to strip her of two House committee assignments.

While Greene is a known commodity by now, Flowers has shared little about his background other than his military service. Campaign manager Chase Goodwin filled in some blanks Monday, describing Flowers in an email to Patch as a “father and a husband” who was born in Troy, Alabama, and who lived for a time as a youth in Talladega.

The campaign video alludes to a hardscrabble upbringing, with Flowers having been placed in a “children’s home” at age 11 because his parents couldn’t support him.

“I learned to deal with bullies at an early age,” Flowers said in the video. The statement is followed by a quick clip of Greene.

In February, Flowers told The Washington Post that he was inspired to run after seeing the 2019 video of Greene heckling David Hogg, who survived the Parkland, Florida, school shooting.

“When I saw what was going on and all these things came to light, I just couldn’t hold the powder any longer,” Flowers said to the Post.

Flowers will “focus on legislation that helps small businesses in his district, improves healthcare, and improves the delivery of care to the nation's military veterans,” Goodwin wrote in an email to Patch. The candidate’s website says he “believes in bipartisanship” and is pro-choice because he doesn’t “believe the government should be allowed into people’s bedrooms.”

"We need to bring civility back into our political discourse," Flowers said to The Washington Post. "She does not represent our district. People here are lovely. I mean, yeah, there's an element of extremism here in the district, but it's by far the minority."

Flowers is one of two Democrats who have filed paperwork to run with the Federal Elections commission. Brittany Trambauer-Smith of Dallas, Georgia, has also filed, according to multiple reports.

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• Challengers Already Targeting Rep. Greene For Reelection