Virginia candidate accused of assaulting butterfly center director barred from GOP fundraiser

The Virginia congressional candidate who allegedly assaulted the executive director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission has been prohibited from attending a private Republican fundraiser taking place in McAllen this weekend. In a video posted to her campaign Facebook page and shared to her Twitter account, Kimberly Lowe, the Roanoke woman who is seeking the Republican nomination for the 9th Congressional District of Virginia, said she has been barred from attending the three-day long event that has drawn well-known Republicans from across the country.

“I got canceled by the event organizers,” Lowe said in the video. “I paid for an expensive VIP ticket so that way I could get a tour with Gen. Flynn and Tom Homan so that way we could get a better perspective, but Mark Finchem and Christie Hutcherson with Women Fighting for America believed the lies of the media and they withheld my diamond pass to get on the bus for the tour.” Finchem, a Republican state representative from Arizona, was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, though he denies having gone inside the building during the insurrection, according to reporting by NPR. Finchem is also a supporter of QAnon who believes that the 2020 election was “stolen,” despite Republican election officials in his own state declaring Arizona’s results “free, fair and accurate.” Hutcherson, meanwhile, is the CEO and founder of Women Fighting For America, the organization putting on the “We Stand America” rally this weekend.