The Proud Boys have regrouped and are signalling election plans
Far-right organisation that played central role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot has reorganised into chapters that are echoing claims of ballot fraud — and discussing a response
Members of the Proud Boys, key instigators in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, are mobilising in support of Donald Trump — and in some cases, making threats about the presidential election.
While it isn’t clear what the far-right group is planning or how co-ordinated its plans are, many chapters are amplifying election-cheating claims made by Trump or his allies and discussing potential responses, according to a review by The Wall Street Journal of dozens of accounts on Telegram, the messaging app, and Trump’s Truth Social platform. Chapters have gathered across state lines, talked about watching polls and have been boasting about attending Trump rallies to protect the former president.
The online chatter comes as law-enforcement officials confront an unprecedented array of aggressors this election season: foreign operatives, homegrown extremists and lone wolves such as those accused of trying to assassinate Trump.
The digital activity appears to show the Proud Boys regrouping after the imprisonment of many members and top leaders — individuals that a bipartisan House panel called central orchestrators of the riot. Former national chairman Enrique Tarrio is serving 22 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges for trying to thwart the transfer of power from Trump to Joe Biden.
A Texas Proud Boys chapter’s Telegram account recently shared a post alleging a Democratic conspiracy to install Vice President Kamala Harris as president through “millions of fake ballots.” Replied a commenter pictured with a Proud Boys flag in the background: “So we can shoot them then, right?” A North Carolina Proud Boys chapter, which has formally endorsed Trump on Telegram, thanked its members who volunteered to “work the polls” in the primaries, calling it an “excellent trial run for the general election in November.” The chapter also talked about providing “security” for Trump at a September rally in Wilmington, N.C., and declared that Harris “will not win without a steal, which is exactly what they are planning to do.” The North Phoenix Proud Boys posted a picture of a gun arsenal on Truth Social last month, declaring, “Proud Boys stocking up getting ready for Nov … It’s going to be biggley!!” An Ohio chapter warned on Telegram that “once Trump wins,” antifa will riot, adding, “Prepare accordingly.” The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, a non-profit tracking hate speech and extremism, documented in a new report a 317% surge in “violent rhetoric related to election denialism” by various groups on Telegram during October. The organisation cited posts that used alleged rigged elections to justify an “inevitable civil war” and a call to “Shoot to kill any illegal voters.” Heidi Beirich, the organisation’s co-founder, said groups like the Proud Boys are planning to do poll watching and have signalled they are prepared for violence.
In one discussion — viewed by the Journal — Proud Boys members suggested “keeping your rifle by your side.” The federal government is planning dramatically increased security for this Jan. 6 when Congress meets to certify election results. Law-enforcement officials say they don’t expect an attack of similar scale, in part because more than 1,500 rioters were charged.
Yet the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security warned state and local officials in October that solo extremists or small groups, similarly galvanised by “election-related grievances,” could mobilise for violence between Election Day and at least the Jan. 20 inauguration.
In the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, the Proud Boys were “leading the on-the-ground efforts to storm the seat of government,” the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia said in a written statement after Tarrio’s 2023 sentencing. “No organisation put more boots on the ground.” With their national leadership ranks thinned, the Proud Boys appear to have pivoted to localised operations.
On Telegram, a North Carolina chapter said “a hard lesson was learned about having a national PB leadership structure after J6,” referring to the riot, and said that now, there are more than “100 individual chapters conducting local events yet still feeding their lessons learned to the club as a whole.” The local chapters list “tenets,” such as “declare ‘the West is the best’” and “venerate the housewife.” The Proud Boys recently joined demonstrations in Springfield, Ohio, as top Republicans in September floated a debunked claim that Haitian migrants were eating pets.
“The red hat army is coming back. From now til the election,” an Indiana Proud Boy chapter posted on Telegram in July with a photo of a MAGA cap.
A Telegram page for a chapter in Long Island, N.Y., boasted about members who it said attended a Trump rally in Michigan last month. “If they only knew we were backstage and all over,” the post states.
Another Proud Boy Telegram post said members from a half-dozen states converged on Trump’s Oct. 5 rally in Butler, Pa., the site of the July assassination attempt. Their post, accompanied by a photo slide show, said members were there “to watch Trump’s back and to experience the momentous occasion with the good people of the MAGA movement.” Julie Farnam, a former U.S. Capitol Police assistant director over intelligence, who is now a private investigator, cautions that decentralised chapters make the Proud Boys harder to track.
Farnam said potential presidential pardons for Jan. 6 defendants is a factor driving their support for Trump. Trump has floated the idea of pardoning Jan. 6 rioters. On Telegram, some Proud boys post photos of themselves, claiming to be outside Trump rallies, with signs like, “free the J6 prisoners.” “They will expect that Trump will pardon,” Farnam said.
A Kentucky Proud Boys chapter said on Truth Social last month it was “standing back and standing by,” which it called a throwback to Trump’s use of that phrase to the Proud Boys during a 2020 presidential debate. The chapter promoted a Sunday Traveling Trump Train event in Lexington that it said was organised by Christian conservatives.
A Kentucky chapter member told the Journal his group doesn’t have plans to gather for the election, but said there is a possibility members will attend the inauguration if Trump wins — to celebrate and raise awareness of the Proud Boys imprisoned over the Capitol riot.
Some Proud Boys also express support for Trump’s proposals, particularly immigration.
A recent Telegram post by an Ohio Proud Boys group said: “1/20/25: Trump is sworn in as President. 1/21/25: Me and the Proud Boys begin the deportations.”
The Wall Street Journal
