Meet Aria DiMezzo, a trans metalhead, self described anarchist Satanist who is the current Republican nominee for county sheriff in Cheshire County, New Hampshire. With a contorversial campaign slogan like “F*** the Police,” it's perhaps surprising that she was able to get 4,211 registered Republican residents to vote for her, but she did and now she is on the ballot.
The 32 year old was able to secure the nomination because she was running unopposed. But getting over 4k Republican signatures is no small feat. Now, she has her eye on the prize.
But, Rob, this is a metal site, not a political site – what does this have to do with metal? Well, for one thing, Aria is in a metal band called FUD, and she just announced that her campaign song is going to be Trivium's "The Heart From Your Hate."
Here's her band covering Black Sabbath's "War Pigs."
DiMezzo is running against incumbent sheriff Eli Rivera, who is running for his third term. As for why she's running, DiMezzo says “I’m running for sheriff because I oppose that very system, and the sheriff has the most hands-on ability in Cheshire County to oppose that system. The system that let you down by allowing me–the freaking transsexual Satanist anarchist–be your sheriff candidate is the same system I’m attacking. I’m sorry, and I know it hurts to hear, but that system is a lie. The entire thing is a lie. It’s broken from beginning to end, and my existence as your sheriff candidate is merely how this reality was thrown into your face.”
Explaining her victory in a blog post, DiMezzo wrote: “I went into it expecting that I would lose the primary to a write-in candidate, because I didn’t think that so many voters were just… completely and totally oblivious about who they are voting for.
“Because the fact is that you didn’t bother. You trusted the system. You trusted the establishment. You trusted the party. You felt safe. You were sure that there must be some mechanisms in place to prevent from occurring exactly what just occurred.
“Your anger is misplaced if you direct it at me. Please listen. Your anger is with the system that has lied to you. Your anger is with the system that convinced you to believe in it, trust in it, and have faith in it, when it is completely and utterly broken.
“More than 4,000 people went into the voting booth on September 8 this week, and they all filled in the circle by my name despite knowing absolutely nothing about the person they were nominating to the most powerful law enforcement position in the county.
“That’s a level of recklessness of which any decent human being should be ashamed.”
Also, check out some of these campaign signs:
Will Aria win her election? We'll be keeping a close eye. We spoke to Aria shortly after publishing this story, and we will be talking to her live this Tuesday on the RIP a Livecast.
[via MetalSucks]
