Nearly 22% of Republican legislators in the country have joined at least one far-right Facebook group, with Missouri ranking among the top five, a watchdog organization found in a study released this month.
In a year-long review of the 7,383 seats in state legislatures in the 2021-2022 session, the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights found that 4,011 seats were held by Republicans. Of those GOP lawmakers, 872 — 21.74% — had joined far-right Facebook groups, according to the report, “Breaching the Mainstream.”
“The numbers are staggering,” said Devin Burghart, executive director of IREHR, which has monitored extremist groups for decades. “The findings show how deeply the far-right has penetrated state politics.”
