CAPITAL REGION — Democratic committee leaders in Saratoga and Schenectady counties allege that a former congressional candidate’s recent social media post appears pro-sedition.
Glenville conservative activist Liz Joy late Monday night on X suggested that armed Americans could — and potentially should — seize power from authorities. She later shared a screenshot of the post on Facebook.
“Approximately 82 Million Americans own firearms,” Joy said in the post. “We are the largest civilian Army in the World. If we really wanted too- we could make the decision to defend our own borders and overhaul our Government-.”
“It seems it’s about that time-,” she continued.
Saratoga County Democratic Chair Martha Devaney was appalled by the two-time 20th Congressional District challenger’s language.
“It makes me stumble over words, because it’s so outrageous and inflammatory and anti-democratic,” Devaney said.
In May, the Trump-aligned politician ruled out a third consecutive bid against U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, in order to devote more time to serving as a state-level “election integrity” advocate. Lately, she’s been a political commentator on conservative streaming programs.
Since 2020, the blogger has been an outspoken voice in conservative circles. She’s been known to espouse hardline views on issues such as abortion, immigration and gun rights.
This recent take, Devaney said, is especially alarming.
“It is claimed that such statements fall under freedom of speech, but if this is your speech, it certainly could fall into the category of going to federal review,” Devaney claimed.
Several X users tagged the FBI in replies to the post.
Schenectady Democratic Committee Chairman Frank Salamone in a statement called on the FBI to investigate the post to “ensure the safety of all Americans.”
FBI Albany office spokesperson Sarah Ruane in an email said that the bureau doesn’t comment on social media posts.
Joy hasn’t responded to a request for comment. The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers also reached out to county GOP committees in the area, which did not respond either as of press time.
Assemblymember Phil Steck, D-Colonie, said that the post appears to be protected speech. A lawyer, Steck said that anyone must show a “clear or present danger” to warrant attention from authorities.
“A mere tweet on some social media platform — I’m not sure it rises to that level,” Steck said. “We don’t want to have hysteria.”
The staunch progressive, however, considers Joy’s post to be reckless in the backdrop of global political violence. A survey from the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution released in October showed that 23% of Americans condone political violence — an eight-point jump from 2021.
“In that context, I think it’s particularly disturbing that this former congressional candidate of the Republican Party would be making threats of violence simply because not everyone in the United States agrees with her point of view,” Steck claimed.
On the island of former Tonko challengers, Joy stands out as a comparatively competitive and controversial force. In 2022, she defeated Tonko in Saratoga County for the first time by 4,237 votes and inched the closest ever to the seasoned politician in recent history in overall margins.
It’s likely that Joy’s two runs will have a lasting effect on the GOP politics of the 20th Congressional District, according to Ron Seyb, a political scientist at Skidmore College.
“I do think it is a kind of artifact of the Trumpetization of the Republican Party to it, just you’re going to get more of these right-wing candidates,” Seyb said.
Joy characterized Tonko as a soft-on-crime socialist while the congressman, which declined to comment on this story, casted the Glenville activist as MAGA extremist. Oftentimes, the incumbent’s campaign would attack Joy for helping organize a Jan. 6, 2021 bus trip to Washington D.C. for the “Stop the Steal” rally, where thousands of people gathered in protest of 2020 election results.
The situation soured after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, causing $2.7 million in damage, multiple deaths and a bevy of injuries. More than 700 people were eventually adjudicated in the years following the incident.
In Joy’s telling, the former candidate was situated around peaceful compatriots two miles away from the chaos. Joy once told the Daily Gazette Editorial Board that she didn’t know about the Capitol breach until she was on the phone with CBS6 reporter J.T. Fetch on a home-bound bus trip.
“We didn’t know the violence was even happening,” Joy said at the time. “You did not know from where we were. You couldn’t see it.”
Joy told the board that she has repeatedly condemned the violence. She didn’t believe Donald Trump was responsible for influencing any of the rioters for breaching the U.S. Capitol building.
That year, the U.S. House of Representatives, then under a Democratic majority, arranged a special Jan. 6 committee to investigate the failed insurrection. The group ultimately alleged that Trump played a conspiratorial role in the violence after urging followers to walk with him to the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Saratoga, who has called Joy a friend in the past, recently slammed the committee over allegations that members deleted and encrypted 100 documents before the GOP took control of the House last year.
“As I said from day one, Nancy Pelosi’s sham January 6th Committee was illegitimate and unconstitutional,” Stefanik said in a recent statement.
Stefanik’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment regarding Joy’s recent post.
The high-ranking GOP lawmaker on “Meet The Press” refused to commit to the results of the 2024 election. She didn’t certify the results after Joe Biden’s victory in 2020.
Liz Joy’s ‘civilian Army’ statement raises concerns about her understanding of military dynamics and national security.
Disagree: Concerns about Liz Joy’s understanding of military dynamics seem premature; let’s focus on the broader message she’s trying to convey about engaging civilians in national security.