Federal agents on Thursday arrested Ryan Kelley, a Michigan Republican vying for the party’s gubernatorial nomination, and charged him with participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
FBI spokeswoman Mara Schneider told The Associated Press Kelley was arrested in western Michigan and will have a court hearing in Grand Rapids.
He faces four charges related to his activity at the Capitol, NBC News reports, including disorderly conduct and willfully injuring or attacking U.S. property.
Photos of Kelley at the Capitol during the violent attack show him in sunglasses and a backward hat appearing to wave rioters toward the building and, the FBI says, supporting another rioter who was pulling down a metal barricade.
Video from the scene shows Kelley shouting, “Come on, let’s go! This is it! This is ― this is war, baby!”
Kelley has benefited greatly from a turbulent gubernatorial primary season in the state, where several top Republicans failed to make the ballot after submitting nominating petitions containing forged signatures.
That left Kelley in the race with four other relatively unknown Republicans, none of whom have the name recognition to poll meaningfully higher than the others.
“Ryan Kelley has no business seeking an elected position in the same government he tried to overthrow,” Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite said in a statement last June, when video of Kelley at the riot first emerged.
“Information keeps coming out placing him closer and closer to the violence than he’s said he was,” Applewhaite said at the time. “He should come clean and immediately explain why the Republican party should nominate an insurrectionist to lead their party.”
Kelley’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.