Brian McGinnis

Brian McGinnis, a former U.S. Marine and firefighter, is running as the Green Party candidate for North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District after initially launching a long-shot write-in campaign. Married to a Palestinian American woman, McGinnis has become known for his staunch anti-Israel stances and inflammatory messaging.

In 2024, McGinnis joined the Freedom Flotilla Coalition's unsuccessful attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. In March 2026, he disrupted a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with anti-Israel protests before being forcibly removed by Capitol Police. He was charged with three counts of assaulting a police officer, three counts of resisting arrest, and unlawful demonstration. Following the incident, the Raleigh Fire Department placed him on administrative leave.

Beyond his "activism," McGinnis has amassed a social media following of nearly 500,000 on Instagram, providing him with a significant platform to promote his extremist rhetoric. His campaign and policy messaging focuses disproportionately on Israel, and he frequently uses the term "Zionism" to disguise his antisemitism. What began as an unlikely write-in campaign has since advanced to a place on North Carolina's November ballot - a development that should concern people across the country.

Brian McGinnis disrupting a Senate hearing in March 2026 screaming "no one wants to fight for Israel" before being removed and arrested by Capitol police.

Brian McGinnis frequently engages in antisemitic rhetoric that targets Jews and Israelis through dehumanizing language, antisemitic stereotypes, and collective blame. Examples of McGinnis' statements and public posts include:

• Claiming we have to "free ourselves from Israel and this demonic group of people who claim they're Jewish but they're truly not... they practice child sacrifice, they practice satanism and they're just over land and power."
• Demanding that Jews and synagogues must "step up and denounce what Israel has done and separate themselves from the state of Israel."
• Captioning his video: "Zionists are not religious Jews, Christian Zionists are not Christians."
• Stating "we need to know the real terrorists, which is Israel."
• Claiming Israelis have "fooled America into paying for their settler violence and fighting their wars."
• Calling a Jewish politician a "Zionist pig."
• Minimizing antisemitism by claiming it is used to "gaslight people into not being able to criticize Israel or Jews" and saying "I just think they (Zionists) have done such a job of using antisemitism as a weird mental thing and it's starting to crumble."

Brian McGinnis burning an Israeli flag and smoking from it, captioning his video "Happy Fourth of July!"

Brian McGinnis utilizes antisemitic conspiracy theories that portray Jews as secretly controlling governments, institutions, or global events, including:

• Urging his followers to "vote responsibly and intentionally for anti-Israel candidates… we can fight this evil corruption that Israel has done to our government by spending so much money trying to manipulate our elections and our democracy."
• Saying, "Everybody knows Israel is behind this, everybody knows America is doing this for Israel. The Epstein files, all this, but nobody is going to say it so I just had to say it."
• Stating, "This is America being coerced into destabilizing and destroying Iran only for Israel's ability to proliferate in the region as the dominant power. They are just exploiting and using us for their benefits to fight for these investor class, Epstein class people."
• Asserting that Israel has done "many false flag attempts and I'm convinced 9/11 was one of those things to throw us into this global war on terror which is truly just a war on the Middle East on the behalf of Israel while they use American troops and money to do that."
• Saying Americans must un-associate with Israel so we cease to "do their bidding."

Brian McGinnis' statements and actions are not just controversial - they reveal a troubling pattern of antisemitic conspiracy theories, dehumanizing rhetoric, and radicalization. Anyone seeking public office while using a large online platform to amplify these messages must be held accountable for normalizing bigotry and extremism for political gain.

StopAntisemitism is actively engaging with Meta to secure the suspension of Brian McGinnis' accounts, cutting off his ability to use their platforms to spread antisemitic hate and incite others. This is part of our ongoing effort to hold individuals accountable and ensure social media companies enforce their own policies against hateful content.