The neo-Nazis who showed up at Franklin, Tenn. mayoral candidate Gabrielle Hanson’s candidate forum on Monday, including one who walked alongside her, are contradicting her claim that she did not invite them to the event.
Hanson issued a press release two days after the candidate forum stating that she “did not hire the group that showed up at the debate the other night, nor did I ask them to participate as security for the event,” while presenting screengrabs from the white supremacist group that pushed baseless claims about her opponent.
But on Thursday morning a Telegram channel associated with Hanson’s neo-Nazi supporters denounced Hanson as a liar.
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“No, she didn’t hire them. But she most definitely did ask them to be there,” the Patriot Girls United (Uncensored) channel posted, alongside a screengrab of Hanson’s press release. “She said she had received threats from Antifa. Why in the hell would a group of guys that live nowhere near Franklin care about who the damn mayor is?
“She’s just another lying ass politician,” the post concluded.
The owner of the channel is Renee Lewis, who also owns Lewis Country Store, Second Amendment-themed gas station on the outskirts of Nashville that allows white supremacists to conduct fight training in the gym upstairs. Hanson, a real estate agent, is the listing broker for the store, which is currently under contract for sale. Lewis’ husband, Brad Lewis appeared with members of the Tennessee Active Club at the candidate forum on Monday, and told a reporter: “Gabrielle’s a friend of mine and she’s had some real credible threats.”
Raw Story was able to identify Brad Lewis’ wife, Renee, as the author of the post by virtue of the fact that owner of the Patriot Girls United (Uncensored) channel — an account with the username “WhiskeyPapa88” — made a post in June referencing a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center about Lewis Country Store by writing, “This story makes our store sound even more based than I thought it was.”
The Tennessee Active Club Telegram channel, run by Sean Kauffmann, later reshared Lewis’ post calling out Hanson.
The neo-Nazi Tennessee Active Club re-shared a post contradicting Gabrielle Hanson's effort to distance herself from the group on its Telegram channel on Thursday. Telegram screengrab
Hanson could not be reached for this story, and has not responded to numerous attempts to reach her for comment for previous stories.
Hanson currently serves as an at-large member of the Franklin Board of Mayor & Aldermen, the city’s governing body. She is seeking to unseat incumbent Mayor Ken Moore. Early voting is underway in the election, which is scheduled for Oct. 24.
While dodging questions from mainstream media outlets, Hanson told right-wing podcaster Jeremy Slayden on Wednesday that Tennessee Active Club was an “anti-antifa group” that conducts “cyber security” operations on the “dark web.” She went on to make baseless accusations claiming that the publisher “a local liberal publication” is the “head of antifa in Tennessee” and that her election opponent is “actively linking” with antifa “and anti-gun activists as well.”
The Tennessee Active Club “had concerns, not only for me, but I think they had concerns for all of Franklin at that event, based on what they saw online,” Hanson told Slayden.
While there is no evidence that “antifa” is making threats against members of the public in Franklin, hours after the neo-Nazis appeared at the candidate forum, Brad Lewis issued a screed on Telegram warning area journalists about a coming “Day of the Rope,” a phrase typically used by white supremacists to reference a violent purge against journalists, politicians and other perceived political enemies.
Following Raw Story’s report on Lewis’ online threats, he made another post on Telegram that targeted a local woman who filed an ethics complaint against Hanson. The ethics complaint addressed Hanson’s attempt to pressure Nashville International Airport to withdraw funding from a local Juneteenth festival.
Addressed to “my white brothers and sisters,” Lewis’ Telegram screed included the purported home address of local resident Peggy Kingsbury, while expressing, “I think it’s about time that her and her kind were silenced.”
Kingsbury responded to the threat on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday.
“As one who received threats from this group I hold her responsible,” Kingsbury wrote. “The only tie between this group and me is Gabrielle Hanson. Otherwise they have no reason to even know I exist. She welcomed them to Franklin and she failed to denounce them at the forum.”
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Meanwhile, Brad Lewis responded to Raw Story’s reporting on his threat against journalists by doubling down with a mocking and antisemitic post on Thursday that reinforced the original messaging.
Hanson’s association with the Tennessee Active Club has been widely denounced by area elected officials.
“It is vile for anyone to align with white supremacists or any other racist groups,” Republican state Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson told the Williamson Herald. “Violence and intimidation have no place in political discourse. If indeed these people do proclaim to be ‘actual literal Nazis,’ then it is reprehensible to use such a group to shield a candidate for public office from answering questions from the media.”
All eight members of Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen, excluding Hanson but including her opponent, expressed concern in a public statement on Wednesday.
“We, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, are deeply concerned and disturbed by the events that unfolded at Monday night’s candidate forum for the upcoming city election,” the aldermen said. “Individuals identifying as neo-Nazis and self-admitted supporters of Gabrielle Hanson threatened both our citizens and members of the media during and after this important civic event.”
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