On November 8, 2020, the day after the major news networks called the election for Joe Biden, 350 supporters of Donald Trump gathered in Purcellville, Virginia, a town of 9,000 people one hour northwest of Washington, D.C., to protest the results. 

“The national news media, they can make projections about the election, but they don’t elect the president,” declared Geary Higgins, a former GOP member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors who served as chairman of Virginia’s 10th congressional district Republican committee. He warned ominously, “If we can’t have free and fair elections in this country, where people have faith in the system, then we’re not going to have a peaceful transition of power.”

The “Stop the Steal” rally was among the first of its kind in the nation. It was the beginning of an unprecedented anti-democratic movement that would culminate, two months later, in the insurrection at the Capitol. The event was attended by members of the Oath Keepers, the militia group that would play a key role in the January 6 assault.