Renowned composer John T. Williams is not running for the U.S. House in Alaska.
Nor is Cordova fisheries workforce specialist John D. Williams, whose biographical information filled out a post announcing the candidacy of a “John Williams” on the right-wing Must Read Alaska blog for the better part of two days, attracting the usual anti-Democrat vitriol aimed at a man whose only crime is having a pretty common name and an online presence that puts him first on the list when you search “John Williams Alaska.”
“This guy is going nowhere,” wrote Tiffany. “Never heard of him, but he’s awfully weird looking. The photo looks like a wanted poster.”
Another wondered if, as a registered Democrat, he supported “the mutilation of children in the name of ‘transgender’” to which author Suzanne Downing excitedly replied that she had done her homework, “He was an undeclared voter in February, so he intentionally changed, which means he embraces the party platform you describe.”
The only problem for the maven of misinformation is that she had the wrong John Williams altogether. It’s Fairbanks resident John Brendan Williams, a Democrat, who has filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission to run for U.S. House against Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, not the undeclared fisheries workforce specialist in Cordova.
John Brendan Williams reached out to The Alaska Current about the mix-up, noting that he had even tried to clarify the point in the comments of the Must Read Alaska article.
“They never even reached out,” he said via email. “If somebody would like to contact me regarding my candidacy, or at least point out information they are not correcting, it would be much appreciated.”
Even one of John D. Williams’ friends ventured into the comment section on the article, writing “john is a good guy he was in my fishing group. Nice for you to give him a write up. I do not think he is running for House. His middle initial is D for David and he is actually registered to vote in Cordova.”
To which he was helpfully told by the Must Read’s loyal commenters that he obviously didn’t know what he was talking about, topping it off with a bit of anti-vaccine flare with “Please take your booster shot.” Another linked to the FEC filing of John B. Williams — a document that doesn’t go much beyond an address — as if that proved Downing’s sleuthing correct.
John D. Williams’ friend replied with the exasperation of trying to explain to someone that the sky is blue or the earth is round.
“Maybe you are unable to understand simple things,” Leo americus wrote, “I will spell it out for you. The photo and bio posted in the article is of a person not running for the House. They simply have the same first and last names. You should post under your real name. Perhaps you share it with some serial killer. People could trash you in the comments. In my opinion an apology and correction should be made or the actual candidate should be verified.”
Even John B. Williams arrived in the comments.
“That guess would be absolutely incorrect,” he wrote in response to a comment insisting that Downing had it right. “My name is John Brendan Williams, the picture is not me, the bio is not me. But I live in Fairbanks, Alaska, and I did file to run for US house rep. Whoever wrote this article did absolutely zero research, nor did they reach out.
“I filed candidacy for Office, and have been traveling out of state since taking care of wife while she has dental work completed. I will make sure to get a website up as soon as possible. I found it necessary to find this article and address the simple fact it is not me and that is not my bio, whoever wrote this did a generic web search and went with the first person they found on a very common name. we need better reporting.”
As of today, the details about Cordova John D. Williams have been removed from the post, replaced with scant information available about John B. Williams, who has a limited online presence to draw from. The sole acknowledgement of the blunder, which one Reddit user called “so on-brand for MRA,” is an editor’s note that reads, “This story is corrected throughout to remove the information that was associated with a different John Williams.“
And, for the record, we’ve reached out to John Brendan Williams and will do a proper post about his entrance into the race in the coming days.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
