Former Bethel ‘Alt-Right’ Sympathizer Resigns from Positions

BETHEL, CT — A Bethel resident who was once affiliated with the alternative right, or "alt-right," movement, has resigned from his positions with the Youth Commission and Republican Town Committee, the News Times is reporting.

J.P. Sheehan, 28, a 2018 graduate of Western Connecticut State University, where he was president of the College Republicans club, is quoted in the News Times as leaving the group because of its "abrasive" tactics, and resigning from the Republican Town Committee and Youth Commission becase "it was the appropriate action to take."

The committee learned about Sheehan's past affiliation with the "alt-right" from a member of the Democratic Town Committee. Sheehan resigned after members of the committee asked him about his past affiliation. He had been an aternate with both Republican groups.

In a 2016 feature in Vibe magazine, Sheehan was interviewed, along with such prominent members of the "alt-right" movement as Richard Spencer, during a National Policy Institute conference. Sheehan explained to the interviewer:

What the alt-right is meant to to do is create an aura of normalization for European Americans to feel comfortable being who they are. I don't think a 100 percent white ethno-state is something that is not possible here in America, because the country is so darn big. So I would be fine with the US being 80 percent white.

Republicans are looking to recommend a new alternate for the commission.

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