Ada Nestor has told us who she is. We should believe her.
Shortly after Ada Nestor publicly announced her campaign for WCASD Region 1 School Director in early 2021, constituents and those familiar with Ms. Nestor’s history raised concerns that her online presence under social media profile @AnonymousAda reflected a person who had, over a period of years, publicly descended down a frightening rabbit hole, becoming increasingly extreme, offensive, and seemingly disconnected from reality as she embraced QAnon, a dangerous web of conspiracy theories that has been linked to violence and named a potential domestic terror threat by the FBI.
Ms. Nestor’s online activity includes a years-long pattern of QAnon conspiracy theories, disinformation, and offensive, bigoted views.
This content was posted publicly, with no apparent intent to hide Ms. Nestor’s identity. Her profiles and posts contain voluntarily identifying information including her name and photographs, as well as details regarding her family and personal life. Furthermore, Ms. Nestor has used her @AnonymousAda profiles to discuss, promote, and solicit donations for her WCASD School Board campaign.
Not soon after questions about her troubling content began to arise, Ms. Nestor’s Twitter account was locked down from public view. However, Ms. Nestor’s years-long history of public activity remains available on the Internet Archive, where over 40,000 tweets and retweets have been preserved. Additionally, Ms. Nestor’s profiles on other social media sites remain available, some still publicly and some via the Archive. Ms. Nestor is a prolific and savvy user of social media, with profiles on a vast array of sites ranging from fringe to mainstream. By June of 2020, she had amassed over 8,600 followers on Twitter.
As a private citizen, Ms. Nestor is entitled to her beliefs, no matter how offensive or harmful they may be. However, as a candidate for public office, she invites and must anticipate scrutiny of her public words and actions. If elected as School Director, Ms. Nestor would be in a position of public trust, responsible for fairly representing all WCASD students, constituents, and taxpayers. She would be responsible for evaluating complex information and deciding on matters of public safety and fiduciary consequence.
The views Ms. Nestor has expressed via her numerous social media profiles reflect a disregard for truth or an inability to discern it, as well as a lack of judgment and character. The concerns are non-partisan: her actions and views do not reflect a political viewpoint or affiliation, but rather, a pattern of behavior and personal qualities that are incompatible with public office.
Perhaps equally as alarming, the persona Ms. Nestor and her campaign have curated via official campaign materials is strikingly different from – and in some cases entirely at odds with – the longstanding pattern of views she expressed prior to becoming a candidate for elected office:
Ms. Nestor’s campaign says she will “foster true community and inclusiveness among all races and ethnicities,” but her posts reflect bigoted views, such as calling Islam the “religion of pedophilia”, celebrating the destruction of a Breonna Taylor memorial, and portraying the Black Lives Matter movement as a Satanic conspiracy.
Ms. Nestor’s campaign says she will “promot[e] accurate curriculum programs over fictionalized ones,” but she has prolifically spread disinformation and outright falsehoods, including a claim that she cracked a code proving the U.S. is still under control of the British Empire.
Ms. Nestor’s campaign says she will “teach internet safety not only to the students, but to the parents,” but she has a years-long history of publicly posting offensive content, trolling, and spreading dangerous conspiracy theories.
Ms. Nestor’s campaign says she will “protect our teacher’s salaries, rights, and pension programs,” but she has called for all teachers to be fired and claims they “won’t lift a finger”.
Ms. Nestor’s campaign says she is about “helping our most vulnerable students,” but she has perpetuated a false claim that Child Protective Services is part of a kidnap-for-hire plot and has called for children to be returned to homes from which they were removed for their protection.
Ms. Nestor’s campaign claims to “support all genders”, but she has retweeted posts mocking and mis-gendering transgender student athletes.
With over 40,000 archived tweets and retweets, as well as prolific content on other social media forums, there can be no argument that Ms. Nestor’s troubling behavior is a case of an errant tweet or a few misguided mistakes. Ms. Nestor has shown us who she is. We should believe her.
The gallery below contains a selection of posts from Ms. Nestor that highlight her heavy involvement in QAnon as well as her bigoted and troubling views. These are not just screenshots. Each image is linked to the preserved content on the Internet Archive. Several are threads that contain additional context and information. Click on each image to view the archived version.
