Twitter account belonging to former Seaside mayoral candidate suspended

SEASIDE, Calif. (KION) A Twitter account belonging to former Seaside mayoral candidate Joseph Smith has been suspended.

Smith ran in 2020 and lost to incumbent Ian Oglesby. At one point during his campaign, QAnon-related hashtags and mentions were included in the account. They were removed, and Smith later told KION that he believes QAnon to be just conspiracy theories.

Following a riot at the U.S. Capitol that involved supporters of QAnon, Twitter blocked 70,000 accounts associated with supporters of the theory. While Smith's account had previously included QAnon-related hashtags and mentions, KION is still working to learn whether the suspension of the @verittas13 account was part of the QAnon purge.