Virginia GOP gubernatorial hopeful linked to Nazi sympathizer donor
Richard Iott, a Nazi cosplayer, gave money to a PAC supporting Winsome Earle-Sears
Left to right: Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears on Sept. 5, 2024, and Rich Iott on June 5, 2010. Photo by Kristen Zeis/For The Washington Post via Getty Images / Sally Wehner
By Jacob Kornbluh June 10, 2025
A Nazi cosplayer who praised Hitler’s military for having “accomplished incredible things” militarily is a donor to the Republican nominee for Virginia’s governor.
Richard Iott, a former Ohio congressional candidate with a history of dressing up as Nazis, donated a total of $900 in nine monthly installments since last year to the Winsome PAC, which supports Winsome Earle-Sears, currently the state’s lieutenant governor. His last contribution was made in May, according to recent filings.
Iott, a colonel in the Ohio Military Reserve and a Tea Party favorite during his 2010 congressional run, spent years donning a German Waffen SS uniform and participating in reenactments of the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking. The unit assisted in the genocide of Hungarian Jews and has been accused of numerous war crimes.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that here was a relatively small country that, from a strictly military point of view, accomplished incredible things,” Iott said of Nazi Germany in a 2010 interview with The Atlantic. The National Republican Congressional Committee removed Iott from a preferred list of candidates and the Republican Jewish Coalition said the candidate was unfit for office.
Iott said donning the Nazi outfit was “public education” and that he did not endorse Nazi actions against Jews.
A spokesperson for the Earle-Sears campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
A recent poll shows Earle-Sears trailing her Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, by 17 points. State law bars Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin from serving consecutive terms. Virginia is one of only two states, along with New Jersey, that hold off-year gubernatorial elections.
Jewish voters make up an estimated 3% of the Virginia electorate. In 2021, 37% of Jewish voters supported Youngkin, according to an American Jewish Congress post-election survey.
Republicans are reportedly growing concerned about the viability of their gubernatorial nominee because of lackluster fundraising and backlash to a speech in which Earle-Sears, who is Black, likened Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs to slavery.
Recently, President Donald Trump pulled the nomination of Ed Martin for U.S. attorney for D.C. Martin misled members of the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath about his past praise of Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a Nazi sympathizer and white supremacist who served jail time for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
In 2022, the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano, came under fire for his association with Gab, a social media platform for far-right extremists and an echo chamber for antisemitic tropes.
Dressing up as a Nazi
Iott was a member of Wiking, a group devoted to reenacting the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking. Iott said he participated intermittently in reenactments for about 35 years. He also cosplayed dressing as an American soldier from World War I and World War II, as well as soldiers from both sides of the Civil War. He wore the Nazi uniform in presentations at schools and public events.
In his interview with The Atlantic, Iott said his enthusiasm for dressing up as a Nazi stemmed from “purely historical interest in World War II.”
“The whole purpose of historical reenacting is to educate people one-on-one,” Iott said in a CNN appearance on Oct. 12, 2010. “And that is done by going out and participating in reenactments.”
One cannot “sit here and judge” the Nazis,” Iott said, although that is precisely what the Allies did at Nuremberg. “We were not there the time they made those decisions,” he said. He acknowledged the atrocities the Nazis committed.
His name and photos were removed from the Wiking website. Iott said he left the group in 2007 after his son lost interest in the group’s activities.
