James Carl Marchant Jr. (born May 28, 1956) is an American politician, currently residing in Nevada. A member of the Republican Party, he represented the 37th district in the Nevada Assembly, covering parts of the northwestern Las Vegas Valley, from 2016 to 2018. A staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, Marchant was the Republican nominee for Nevada's 4th congressional district in 2020 and for Secretary of State of Nevada in 2022.
Marchant's political positions are considered far-right. In 2020, Marchant lost his U.S. House election to Democrat Steven Horsford, while Trump lost his reelection bid in the concurrent presidential race. In the aftermath of the election, Marchant became a staunch proponent of the disproven conspiracy theory that the election was "stolen" from Republicans through mass voter fraud. He sued to have his own defeat overturned, and became actively involved in numerous unsuccessful efforts to send alternate electors to Washington and overturn the presidential election.
Marchant subsequently announced his candidacy for Nevada Secretary of State in 2022. He was endorsed by far-right congressmen Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of neighboring Arizona, as well as former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Marchant was the president of the America First Secretary of State Coalition, a group of Republican 2022 Secretary of State candidates supporting the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. He repeatedly said that he would not have certified President Joe Biden's victory in Nevada if he had been Secretary of State at the time of the election, and that he would consider doing the same in 2024 if Biden carried the state again. He also tied himself closely to QAnon, a disproven far-right conspiracy theory, attending an October 2021 conference associated with the movement in Las Vegas. Marchant lost the 2022 election to Democrat Cisco Aguilar.
Marchant was a candidate for the United States Senate in the 2024 election in Nevada, a seat held by incumbent Democrat Jacky Rosen. He lost in the primary to Sam Brown, placing third. He is currently a candidate for Nevada Secretary of State in 2026.
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Early life and education
Marchant was born on May 28, 1956, in Gainesville, Florida. He graduated from Troy University with a degree in criminal justice, and moved to Nevada from Florida in 2005. Marchant worked for the family business from 1978 until 1984, when he left to found his own business.
Political career
Nevada State Assembly
In 2015, Marchant threatened to run against then-Speaker John Hambrick; he ultimately decided to challenge Glenn E. Trowbridge instead. Marchant defeated Trowbridge and then Democrat Sean D. Lyttle in the general election. In 2018, Marchant was unopposed in the Republican primary, but narrowly lost his re-election campaign for Assembly District 37 to Shea Backus, a Democrat, 50.3% to 49.7%.
2020 congressional race
Marchant ran for the U.S. House to represent Nevada's 4th congressional district in 2020. He won the Republican Primary with 34.8% of the vote, but lost the general election against incumbent Democrat Steven Horsford by a margin of 50.7% to 45.8%. After losing the election, he sued to have the result reversed, alleging voter fraud claims. Marchant's request was denied by a Clark County District Court judge on November 20, 2020. On his Nevada Secretary of State campaign website, Marchant claims he "was a victim of election fraud".
2022 Nevada Secretary of State election
Jim Marchant was a candidate for Secretary of State of Nevada in the 2022 election. Marchant had denied Biden's victory in the state in 2020, claiming that "It's almost statistically impossible that Joe Biden won."
In the aftermath of the 2020 United States presidential election, Marchant supported the Trump fake electors plot, the attempt by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the election result by sending fake electors from Nevada to vote for Trump in the Electoral College instead of the Democratic electors chosen by Nevada voters. He said that if he is elected Secretary of State, he would also support the sending of alternate electors from Nevada after the 2024 presidential election.
Marchant also stated that he would eliminate vote by mail, end early voting, and remove all electronic voting machines, which would be replaced by hand counting in a "traceable paper-ballot only" voting system. He has advocated for decentralizing vote counting, and has actively sought to convince counties to eliminate the use of voting machines and to conduct all ballot counting by hand, which experts say will increase human error in the ballot counting process and make counting slower.
Marchant's promise to end voting by mail is based on the theory that voting by mail caused widespread voter fraud in the 2020 United States presidential election. Moreover, Marchant's desire to replace voting machines with hand counts has its root in another theory that Dominion Voting Systems machines, in collaboration with deceased Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and billionaire philanthropist George Soros, switched votes from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden. Marchant claims he only wishes to ban voting machines until they can be inspected for fraud. Republican Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske's office reviewed voting machines and found it was "certain" that voting machines were not compromised.
Marchant also wanted to eliminate the use of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonprofit bipartisan organization which shares voter registration information between 33 member states in order to prevent individuals from registering to vote in multiple states. After the 2020 United States presidential election, ERIC came under attack from conspiracy theorists who claimed without evidence that it was part of a left-wing conspiracy orchestrated by George Soros.
QAnon connections
Jim Marchant has often been linked to QAnon, a fringe conspiracy theory that began on the far-right of the internet that claims that a cabal of Satanic child sex traffickers are conspiring against President Donald Trump.
According to the Daily Dot, Marchant follows several QAnon influencers on Gab and Telegram. On Gab, one account that Marchant follows is a pro-Nazi QAnon influencer called IPOT1776, who has argued that Jewish people were spreading Communism and "degeneracy" and that the Nazis were a natural reaction to the "Judeo-Bolshevik menace". It is not known if Marchant followed this account before it began publishing openly antisemitic content. IPOT1776 has also made consistent references to Q, a figure at the center of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Marchant's account also follows QAnon influencers Ron Watkins and Neon Revolt. On Telegram, Marchant follows a man called "QAnon John" and also follows a chat for fans of QAnon influencer Ron Watkins.
According to the Daily Dot, Marchant uses the username @jcm9079 on Gab. The username jcm9079 has also been used on Disqus and RedState, where the user claimed they met Newt Gingrich in Las Vegas. In a thread on "The Diesel Stop", a post by an account with the username jcm9079 was signed "Jim" and in the thread it was revealed that the user jcm9079 lived in Las Vegas, Nevada. The username jcm9079 is used in Jim Marchant's personal emails, his Instagram account, and his Rumble account. Marchant's Telegram account is registered with Marchant's publicly available phone number. His username is @JimMarchant and his bio reads "Running for Nevada Secretary of State." Marchant denies that both the Gab account with the username @jcm9079 and his Telegram are his.
On October 25, 2021, Marchant attended and spoke at "For God & Country: Patriot Double Down", a QAnon event in Las Vegas. Also in attendance were Arizona Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem, California Secretary of State candidate Rachel Hamm, and Michigan Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo.
Marchant told attendees that on November 4, 2020, the day after he lost his bid for Nevada's 4th congressional district, he was in his hotel room when he heard a knock at his door. It was Juan O. Savin, a QAnon influencer who some adherents to the QAnon conspiracy theory believe is John F. Kennedy Jr. in disguise. Savin, whose real name is Wayne Willott, then convinced Marchant, who originally planned to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, to run for Nevada Secretary of State.
2024 Senate bid
Marchant ran for a seat in the United States Senate In 2024. He lost the Republican primary to Sam Brown.