A prominent Utah activist with direct access to top Republican lawmakers who has been selected for a key role in shaping the state's new National Federalism Initiative placed a Nazi sympathizer facing felony charges in a leadership position within her organization.
Jen Brown, founder of Utah Citizens for the Constitution and a regular fixture at Utah's State Capitol, has significant influence among Republican members of the Utah Legislature, where she’s been appointed to a non-voting seat on the Legislature’s Federalism Commission. This September, she's set to play a central role in a state-funded national summit at Utah Valley University, where lawmakers from across the country will gather to discuss federalism initiatives.
Brown's role in that effort is under scrutiny following her appointment of Christian Drain, who has posted explicit pro-Nazi, racist and antisemitic content on social media, to one of her organization’s leadership positions.
This year, Utah lawmakers approved HB488, legislation they hope will put Utah at the vanguard of what will become a nationwide movement supporting states’ rights. The legislation tasks the Center for Constitutional Studies and the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy, both housed at Utah Valley University, with developing educational curriculum for public officials and policymakers in other states — with Brown playing a key role in that development.
According to planning documents reviewed by Utah Political Watch, Brown is part of a team focusing on the “political” aspect of the initiative, responsible for leading discussions with state agencies to find opportunities for Utah to assert its authority against the federal government. That team will also “provide citizen education and obtain citizen feedback for use by government officials.”
Brown’s organization has embraced far-right interpretations of the Constitution. For example, a 2023 event they sponsored featured David Barton of the ultraconservative WallBuilders organization. Barton, a pseudo historian with no academic credentials, has been criticized for manufacturing facts and quotes to support his view that the Founding Fathers never intended for a separation of Church and State.
Although she portrays herself as an expert on constitutional matters, Brown is a dentist with no academic credentials or background in constitutional studies. That’s why her appointment to such a prominent role in what has been envisioned as a nationwide effort is puzzling.
Brown’s apparent influence in the Legislature makes her selection of Drain to help lead her organizations’ advocacy efforts particularly concerning. Drain has repeatedly expressed pro-Nazi views on social media and is currently facing a first degree felony charge for an alleged sexual assault against a minor.
The structure of Utah Citizens for the Constitution is broken down into what Brown calls “Impact Councils.” The organization’s webpage says the plan is to have one Impact Council in all 75 legislative districts to connect and communicate with state legislators and advocate for policies Brown deems important. Brown appointed Drain as the chair of the Impact Council in House District 31 last fall.
“I live in West Valley City. I have a girlfriend. I know a lot about history,” Drain wrote on the group’s Telegram page in December. “The impact council is very important for grass roots (sic)communication with our elected officials. If they do not know what their constituents want, they would go off on their own opinion, and that is not good.”
Drain, who is 22, is also a state delegate for the Utah Republican Party and served for a time in the Utah National Guard.
Drain’s pro-Nazi online content first came to light last week when a website highlighting his X/Twitter account appeared online. The two dozen saved pages from Drain’s X account are filled with posts praising Hitler and Nazis, holocaust denial, racism and antisemitism. There’s also a video of Drain taking part in a March 2025 counterprotest at the Tesla dealership in Salt Lake City. In the video, he performs what appears to be a Nazi salute while wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt.
Drain’s X account is now private. Utah Political Watch authenticated the posts featured on the website by comparing them with archived copies online. There is little doubt the account is his, since he used his real name to post as far back as 2018.
For a time, Drain’s username was “1488” a popular slogan among white supremacists and neo-Nazis. “14” is shorthand for the “14 words” slogan, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The “88” stands for “Heil Hitler,” because the letter “H” is the 8th letter of the alphabet.
Archived versions of his feed showed Drain’s profile picture was a meme of Shiloh Hendrix with red laser eyes and text reading, “Get the f--k away from me n—er.” Hendrix is the white Minnesota woman who was videotaped on a playground calling a child a racial slur.
On Feb. 9, Drain wrote “I hate...” followed by a racial slur for Black people. He used numbers in place of some letters, apparently in an attempt to get around content filters. He employed a similar tactic when using a slur for Jews.
In addition to racial and ethnic slurs, Drain has reposted and interacted with explicitly pro-Nazi accounts.
On March 16, Drain reposted a video with a caption claiming President Donald Trump “announced to the world that he is going to expel the Jews.” The video was originally posted by an account that runs an online store selling antisemitic and holocaust denial-themed merchandise.
He has also amplified memes and content claiming “Hitler was right,” and posts calling the Auschwitz concentration camp “Disneyland for antisemites.” When an antisemitic account posted “MAKE OVENS GREAT AGAIN,” Drain responded with a photo of Adolf Hitler performing a Nazi salute.
Drain is also facing felony criminal charges in Salt Lake County for an alleged sexual assault. In 2023, prosecutors charged him with forcible sodomy, a first degree felony, and misdemeanor voyeurism for an 2022 incident involving a then-14-year-old girl.
According to charging documents, Drain - who was 19 at the time - and the girl were watching television in her room. After she refused his request that she perform a sexual act, she tried to leave. Drain allegedly blocked the door to keep her in the room, threw her on the bed and assaulted her. The voyeurism charge was added in 2024 after police obtained a video they say shows Drain engaging in intercourse with the girl. Court documents allege the video was made without her knowledge.
Attempts to reach Drain for comment by Utah Political Watch were unsuccessful.
It’s unclear when Brown became aware of Drain’s pro-Nazi leanings. However, a photo of Brown and Drain together at last month’s Utah State Republican Convention was recently deleted from the group’s Facebook page. Other pictures of Brown posing next to Drain, including a January photo at the State Capitol, are still on the group’s Telegram channel.
Utah Political Watch attempted to ask Brown about Drain’s pro-Nazi leanings or the criminal allegations against him. She did not answer. Other questions for Brown about what sort of vetting process, if any, she uses when deciding whom to place in leadership roles in her organization, or whether she intends to keep Drain in his current position with her organization also went unanswered.
Brown welcoming a Nazi sympathizer into her organization raises legitimate questions about her cozy relationship with Utah Republican lawmakers. She frequently meets with top legislators and state officials to discuss legislation and policy, often posing for photos with them, which she posts on social media.
Last summer, she brokered a meeting at the Capitol between Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, Rep. Karianne Lisonbee and Jay Valentine, a election conspiracy theorist who has ties to several prominent figures who pushed false claims of election fraud in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Valentine has been pitching states to purchase his “fractal quantum technology” as a way to root out potential election fraud. In 2025, Lisonbee sponsored legislation with a provision which appeared to be written specifically to facilitate the purchase of Valentine’s services. However, that section was eventually stripped out.
She is a close ally of Rep. Ken Ivory, the chief sponsor of HB488, who helped give her a prominent role in one of the bill's initiatives - developing a curriculum on “constitutional fundamentals” that will be used to educate public officials from other states.
“She’s a rock star,” Ivory said of Brown during a May online meeting sponsored by her organization.
During that same meeting, Brown said she’s already making connections within Utah’s government.
“We already had our first meeting with some people from the governor’s office, and we are working now on getting a point person for all the state agencies so that we can actually start meeting with them,” Brown said.
Rep. Ivory and House Speaker Mike Schultz did not respond to questions from Utah Political Watch about whether it was proper to have Brown take such a prominent role in a nationwide effort in light of her group's ties to a Nazi sympathizer. They also ignored questions about whether Brown should keep her spot as a non-voting member of the Federalism Commission.
Senate President Stuart Adams and Sen. Keven Stratton, who co-chairs the Federalism Commission with Ivory, also did not respond to questions from Utah Political Watch.
Neither the Center for Constitutional Studies and the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy responded to questions about Brown’s affiliation with the National Federalism Initiative.
