Deleted posts reveals Pfaffenbach’s extreme political rhetoric and false claims

Wisconsin Republican Dylan Pfaffenbach’s deleted social media posts reveal that before he started running for the state Assembly, he had hardline anti-abortion views and used rhetoric portraying political opponents as threats to the country.

As of July 6, Pfaffenbach had 259 deleted posts on X, according to documents obtained by Heartland Signal. His X account has since been deleted, with his last posts made just weeks before Wisconsin held its primary elections.

What his posts say about abortion

The posts offer a more explicit view of Pfaffenbach’s position on reproductive rights than his official campaign platform, which emphasizes protecting people with pre-existing conditions and supporting postpartum care for mothers but does not specify his position on abortion access or which restrictions he would support as a state lawmaker.

In one deleted post from the account @DylnPfaffenbach, Pfaffenbach criticized the political left for supporting what he called “unrestricted termination in the womb.”

Pfaffenbach is a 21-year-old conservative activist running for the Wisconsin state Assembly in the 21st District. He studied business administration and political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wis., founding the university’s Turning Point USA chapter. He has also worked in Republican politics, including on Brad Schimel’s 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign.

Schimel, a former Republican attorney general, defended Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban, which contains no exceptions for rape or incest and briefly became law after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Schimel was also backed by an anti-abortion group that opposes abortion without exceptions.

Pfaffenbach’s posts also praise Trump’s abortion policies. The president has repeatedly taken credit for overturning Roe, which ended federal constitutional protection for abortion. He appointed three conservative justices during his first term who joined the majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 decision that overturned the precedent.

His candidacy comes in a district where the presidential results diverged from the state legislative race. Wisconsin’s current Assembly District 21 voted for Kamala Harris over Trump in 2024, with Harris receiving about 52.1% of the two-party vote. Republican Jessie Rodriguez nevertheless won reelection to the Assembly with 51.27%, defeating Democrat David Marstellar, who received 48.45%.

‘A 21st century Red Terror’

Pfaffenbach’s deleted posts also reflect his support for Trump-aligned politics beyond abortion. In several posts, he referred to political opponents as “communists” and “Marxists.” In another, he said the left wanted conservatives “dead” and would stop at nothing to carry out a “21st century Red Terror.”

Attacks on Kinzinger and the Jan. 6 inquiry

He also attacked former Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a military veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and later joined the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. A post made after Kinzinger spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August 2024 said he was “never a defender of our Constitution,” criticizing the representative’s role investigating Jan. 6 and his support for a Democratic presidential candidate.

Courts and election officials rejected claims that widespread fraud changed the outcome, and recounts confirmed Joe Biden’s victory in Wisconsin.

Vaccine mandates and praise for RFK Jr.

Pfaffenbach’s posts also reflected his opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care workers. He criticized vaccine mandates one post from April 4, 2025. In another from Aug. 23, 2024, he praised Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now the Trump administration’s Health and Human Services secretary, as a “true American.”

DOGE cuts and a false Social Security claim

Another deleted post from April 4, 2025 supported federal workforce cuts associated with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative. Wisconsin lost about 2,400 federal workers through departures, retirements or firings after November 2024, according to figures reported by Wisconsin Public Radio. While jobs were cut, federal spending increased in 2025, from $6.95 trillion to more than $7 trillion.

He also made false posts about Social Security. He amplified claims from former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk that millions of deceased people were collecting benefits, echoing the administration’s campaign that promoted its effort to root out government waste. But a review of Social Security records found that 18.9 million records for people born in 1920 or earlier lacked recorded dates of death, while about 98% of those individuals were not receiving benefits and had no earnings reported to the agency in the previous 50 years. The outdated records did not establish that millions of dead people were collecting checks.

Gun seizure laws and Kamala Harris

Pfaffenbach also criticized policies allowing authorities to remove guns from people legally deemed dangerous to themselves or others. He called Harris “dictatorial” and “authoritarian” while linking to an article about her support for an assault-weapons ban and laws allowing authorities to seize weapons from people barred from owning them, including some domestic abusers.

As the 21-year-old seeks elected office for the first time, the deleted X posts are some of the only existing records of his public statements offering voters a view into his political views. Labeled as a competitive race by Wisconsin Public Radio, Pfaffenbach is running for the 21st District seat against Democrat Dan Bukiewicz, the 61-year-old mayor of Oak Creek, Wis. in the southeast corner of the state

The posts’ deletion does not establish why he removed the posts or whether he regrets them. The Republican candidate did not respond to Heartland Signal’s request for comment.