Utah House candidate Republican Trevor Lee is behind a recently deleted Twitter account that elevated conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, attacked women and members of the LGBTQ community, made false statements about the coronavirus pandemic and frequently used the #DezNat hashtag in support of the conservative religious philosophy.

Lee, who defeated longtime Republican Steve Handy for the GOP nomination in Utah House District 16, operated the @ballinlee Twitter account that used the screen name “Truth seeker.” The account disappeared from the platform earlier this month, within hours of The Salt Lake Tribune contacting Lee about his association with it. Lee took the account private shortly after filing to run for office in March.

During an interview, Lee admitted he owned the account. So why did he take it offline?

“The world we live in now. I can say something that I may not think is controversial,” Lee said, “but the world is changing to a point where it thinks it is.”

Those comments included calling Republican Gov. Spencer Cox “spineless” for supporting transgender girls in athletics; using a derogatory term for transgender people after publicly apologizing for using it initially; and saying Brigham Young University was a “progressive cesspool” that “needs to be cleansed.”

Read more about Trevor Lee’s online activity at https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2022/09/23/gop-candidate-trevor-lee-ran/