“Ron Watkins is best known as the accused operator of ‘Q,’ the anonymous forum account that sparked the QAnon conspiracy theory. After announcing his bid for a battleground congressional seat in Arizona last week, though, he’s tried to distance himself from QAnon. He’s off to a bumpy start. In an interview Monday with The Daily Beast, Watkins and science fiction author Tony Teora, his ‘volunteer campaign coordinator,’ struggled to explain why, if Watkins is not involved in QAnon, he’s among the keynote speakers at a QAnon conference called the ‘Patriot Double Down’ in Las Vegas this coming weekend. ‘When you say that’s a QAnon convention, I never saw anything posted that it’s a QAnon convention,’ Teora said, until a reporter for The Daily Beast pointed out that the conference’s organizers use the aliases ‘QAnon John’ and ‘Q Queen Amy.'”

“Further cementing the conference’s QAnon ties, a poster for the event features both ‘Q’ and ’17,’ an important number for QAnon believers since ‘Q’ is the 17th letter of the alphabet. ‘The number 17 is just an auspicious number,’ Watkins said. ‘Ron, Ron, oh God, oh God!’ Teora said. Watkins’ bid looks set to test the powers and limitations of QAnon celebrity, demonstrating whether a candidate can beat better-funded primary competition through QAnon ties alone. If Watkins defies expectations and wins, he could further open the door for other QAnon promoters to run for office” – Daily Beast.