After overtaking the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday (Jan. 6), Trump supporters stormed statehouses across the country in a continued riot against the president’s defeat in the election. Multiple reports showed mobs gathering at statehouses in Washington, Georgia, Kansas, Ohio, Michigan, California, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming, Texas and more into the evening.
In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was evacuated from the state capitol building after pro-Trump rioters gathered in the area. Raffensperger previously clashed with Trump after denouncing his repeated and unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
“It is unimaginable that we have people in our state & country who are undermining public safety, attacking law enforcement, & breaking into gov’t buildings. This is not the GA way & it’s not the way of our country,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted in response. “These activities are a disgrace & quite honestly un-American.”
Rioters also pushed through the gates outside of the Washington governor’s mansion in Olympia after gathering at the state capitol. Chris Loftis, the director of communications for the Washington State Patrol, told CNBC it took an hour to finally escort the mob off the property.
A protest was also held at the Kansas statehouse in Topeka, though NBC reports that the demonstrators had a permit for the gathering and that it remained peaceful.
“They showed up at their scheduled permit time, they had their rally [and] it was peaceful; nobody went where they weren’t supposed to be,” Kansas Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Don Hughes told CNBC.
Members of the neo-fascist Proud Boys and Trump supporters were seen outside of the Ohio statehouse on Wednesday, where reporters said they violently clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters.
Trump responded to the riot on Capitol Hill in a tweeted video yesterday, telling his supporters to “go home.” The president failed to condemn the mob’s violence and instead continued to claim that he had been cheated in the election.
“This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people,” he said in the address. “… So go home. We love you; you’re very special… But go home, and go home in peace.”
See social media coverage from the nationwide riots below.