Laura Loomer

By Helen Chernikoff November 4, 2020

Veteran incumbent Lois Frankel smashed far-right Jewish activist Laura Loomer’s bid for her Congressional seat in Florida’s 21st district.

Lois Frankel, 72, is a Democrat who has served in Congress for eight years after having also served as a two-term mayor of West Palm Beach, after 14 years in the Florida state legislature. Earlier in her career, she was a public defender.

Laura Loomer, 27, became Frankel’s Republican challenger after winning a primary race in late August. She was promptly congratulated by President Trump, who dispatched his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to campaign with her. Also lending support to Loomer’s campaign: Trump confidant Roger Stone, Fox News Host Jeanine Pirro, far-right personality Milo Yiannopoulos, and Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, an extremist group that got the controversial shout-out from President Trump at the first Presidential debate Sept. 29.

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Frankel has largely ignored Loomer’s rhetoric, focusing on issues she sees as most urgent for her constituents: COVID-19, healthcare, and school reopenings. She seems deeply ambivalent as to whether Loomer, who regularly calls her “Lazy Lois” and “a self-hating Jew,” even merits a response.

Ilene Prusher contributed reporting.

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