Marty O’Donnell, a Republican candidate for Congress in Nevada’s Las Vegas area, has faced scrutiny after an Associated Press review of thousands of posts on an online forum he controls revealed the presence of racial slurs, minimizations of Nazi Germany, and defenses of white nationalist conspiracy theories. O’Donnell, a former composer for the “Halo” video game franchise, has led the online community, known as “The Marty Army,” since assuming control of the chat room originally created by “Halo” developers in 2001. The group, now hosted on Discord, has served as a platform for O’Donnell’s campaign activities, including fundraising and a recent two-day event at a casino featuring video game tournaments and speeches.
The review covered posts made between 2022 and 2026, a period during which O’Donnell ran for Congress in 2024 and is currently challenging four-term Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in the Nov. 3 election. While O’Donnell has publicly condemned bigotry and staunchly defended Israel, the forum’s content has often conflicted with these stated values. Deacon Dameron, a former group member who stated he was banned for calling another user a “dork,” noted that the prevalence of these views was not limited to a few outliers. “It wasn’t a couple of crazies. The popular sentiment was, ‘Yes, slavery should be legal,’” Dameron said. The AP found that while some users espousing Nazi sympathies were eventually banned, many of their posts remained visible.
What the Left Is Saying
Critics and former members argue that the forum’s culture reflects a tolerance for antisemitic and racist rhetoric that contradicts O’Donnell’s public image. Wendy Melillo, an associate professor of journalism at American University who researches extremist chat rooms, described several posts as “coded antisemitic hate speech.” In one instance, users responded to an anti-hate warning from O’Donnell with an emoji of an exaggerated nose and the term “GOY,” a Yiddish term for non-Jews that some anti-hate groups view as disparaging. Melillo noted that other posts were less subtle, stating, “There is nothing coded about ‘Heil Hitler.’” Former members indicated that posters often relied on coded language because more overt racist comments would draw scrutiny from moderators, creating an environment where offensive views were normalized among the group’s participants.
What the Right Is Saying
O’Donnell’s campaign has responded to the findings by emphasizing the candidate’s zero-tolerance policy for hate and his active efforts to moderate the forum. Campaign spokesman Keith Schipper stated that since becoming aware of the issue in the spring, the campaign “dedicated a staffer to monitor” and “remove people that spew racist and antisemitic vitriol.” Schipper noted that nearly 200 users have been banned “because of hateful rhetoric, including many of the people flagged by the Associated Press.” He added that “some posts have been missed over the years” but affirmed that O’Donnell’s “support of Israel is unequivocal.” Regarding a specific controversy where O’Donnell shared a photo of himself wearing a mask he jokingly referred to as a “Mussolini mask,” the campaign denied he was dressed as the dictator, explaining it was a “scary Halloween costume nearly two decades ago” that he later joked about because it “vaguely looked like Mussolini.”
What the Numbers Show
The AP review analyzed thousands of posts on the Discord server over a four-year period. The data indicates that the majority of the chat group’s comments concern video games and strategies, with a dedicated section for questions about O’Donnell’s work on “Halo.” However, offensive remarks frequently appeared as replies to otherwise neutral discussions about current events or politics. Specific examples cited in the review include a May 2022 post where users used letter emojis to spell out racial slurs for Black people, a March 2024 comment suggesting Nazis “did some good things” that were “overshadowed by the terrible things they did,” and a February post stating “Heil Hitler.” In terms of campaign infrastructure, O’Donnell’s website contains a direct link to the Discord group, which he has publicized on his X account. The campaign held a two-day event for forum members at a casino this month. In a sign of the competitive nature of the race, Republicans pulled back spending in several congressional districts, including O’Donnell’s, earlier this week.
The Bottom Line
The presence of controversial rhetoric in “The Marty Army” forum poses a potential liability for O’Donnell’s campaign as he seeks to unseat Rep. Susie Lee in a district that could help decide House control. The incident highlights the challenges candidates face when leveraging dedicated online communities that have evolved independently of their official campaign messaging. While O’Donnell has taken steps to ban users and monitor content, the historical record of posts remains accessible. The campaign continues to emphasize O’Donnell’s endorsement by President Donald Trump and his commitment to fighting bigotry, while critics point to the gap between the candidate’s public statements and the culture of his online supporter base. Voters in Nevada’s Las Vegas area will weigh these factors in the Nov. 3 election.