Jan. 6 defendant who walked out during a debate loses House GOP primary runoff in Georgia

WASHINGTON — A convicted Jan. 6 defendant from Georgia who served 20 days in prison for his actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol lost a Republican primary runoff for a House seat in Georgia, The Associated Press projects.

Charles Hand III, or Chuck Hand, was defeated by former Trump administration official Wayne Johnson as they vied to face Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop in the general election in the solidly blue district. The two candidates advanced to a runoff after neither won a majority of the vote in the initial May primary.

Hand walked out of a debate earlier this month with Johnson not long after a former candidate in the race, Michael Nixon, brought up the criminal history of his wife, Mandy Robinson-Hand, who was his co-defendant in his Jan. 6 case. As federal prosecutors noted in their 2023 sentencing memo in her Jan. 6 case, Robinson-Hand was previously convicted in 2008 of possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute and use of a communication facility in committing a felony. In his Jan. 6 case, Hand admitted that he "broke off a piece of metal fencing and placed it in his back pants pocket" as rioters fought with police on the west front of the U.S. Capitol. Inside the Capitol, he admitted that he saw rioters fighting with officers and "moved towards the altercation," but that his wife pulled him away.

Hand, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo, "participated in the riot on January 6, despite watching rioters assaulting police and seeing the destruction of property around him. He then celebrated his participation in the riot, telling his wife, 'Like I said it was a perfect time to be a. Part of history!'. He then encouraged his wife to not turn herself in and to 'Deny, deny, deny.'"

Hand