Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and white nationalist Nick Fuentes spar over who is responsible for Joe Kent’s 2022 loss
In a recent video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed the Central Intelligence Agency meddled in the 2022 election to ensure that Republican Joe Kent lost the race for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.
“I didn’t think the CIA was a sinister force. It never occurred to me the CIA might be playing a role in domestic politics,” he said. “Now, the CIA is all over domestic politics. They clearly took out Joe Kent in Washington state. You know, I think. And a lot of other ways that they are tampering with our democracy.”
Kent has appeared on the Tucker Carlson Network numerous times.
However, white nationalist Nick Fuentes claims he is the one responsible for Kent’s 2022 loss to Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. Kent is running against her again this year.
On Aug. 29, Fuentes shared Carlson’s comments on X along with a response.
“Last year, Tucker collaborated with Max Blumenthal’s wife to create a massive three-part hit piece about me for the Grayzone accusing me of being a fed,” Fuentes wrote. “They made it clear that this was retaliation for my viral campaign against Joe Kent, a US intelligence agent and friend of Tucker.”
Fuentes has taken credit for launching a full-throated smear campaign against Kent in 2022 after Kent renounced his endorsement. After his association with the livestreamer excited controversy, Kent tweeted that Fuentes’ focus on race and religion was contrary to his own political vision of “inclusive populism.”
Fuentes then called on his “groyper army” — a group of alt-right and white nationalist activists, provocateurs and internet trolls — to tank the Kent campaign.
Notably, Fuentes said he was behind the JoeKentisCIA website. The seemingly well-funded website argued that Kent was a member of the deep state, a carpetbagger and a lifelong socialist. Simultaneously, stickers reading “Joe Kent is CIA” proliferated across the district.
“It all started when Joe Kent attacked me publicly in defense of Israel even after we had a private phone call and I offered him my support,” Fuentes wrote in his response to Carlson’s CIA claims. “So we made sure everyone in his district knew about his service for the CIA and he lost by 1% in the biggest upset in 2022.”
In 2022, Kent lost the seat to Perez by just over 2,000 votes.
After his loss, Fuentes accused Kent of opposing Christian nationalism.
“Without our stickers, and without the website, and without my show and everything else, and without our people going to his town halls, you could say that he probably could have won, you know, maybe a few hundred more votes. And so that will be the greatest thing that ‘America First’ has done,” he said. “Disavowing me comes with a cost.”
— Dylan Jefferies
