The Atlantic

A Sex Scandal. A Conservative Power Network. And Moms for Liberty.

The veil lifted on the remarkable ecosystem that fuels Republican activism
Source: Photo-illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani. Source: Getty.

The ugly news broke during the last week of November: A Florida woman alleged that the chair of the state Republican Party had raped her at her home. The assault had occurred after he and his wife had planned, according to police, to meet her for a three-way sexual rendezvous, as they had previously.

These were stunning claims given the power couple involved: The GOP chair, Christian Ziegler, who has denied the assault and said the encounter was consensual, is a prominent state political consultant. His Republican-activist wife, Bridget Ziegler, is a founder of Moms for Liberty, the conservative political organization whose members have made school-board meetings partisan battlegrounds across America for the past two years.

The allegations have

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