She Wants to Be the MAGA Queen of Orange County. Will Her Ugly Past Stop Her?
After the abrupt departure of an anti-mask, ex-UFC fighter city council member, Huntington Beach, California, is careening toward a wild special election highlighted by a candidate who filmed herself at a protest with men who would later go on to storm the U.S. Capitol and drink goat blood in a pagan ritual.
From late December until June 1, Tito Ortiz served as a Huntington Beach city councilor and “mayor pro tem.” The months-long term was unusually headline-worthy even for Ortiz, a former UFC champion. Before quitting last month, he claimed the Jan. 6 Capitol attack was a “false flag,” called for a boycott of a burger restaurant that asked him to wear a face mask, and got barred from a library (also over a masking dispute).
With Ortiz out, Huntington Beach’s city council has been tasked with picking his replacement or else sending the race to a special election. The chaotic process has the city flirting with its furthest-right representative yet.