Actor from legendary bad movie 'The Room' running for House against veteran Texas Republican

No, Zac Efron isn't running Congress, but he played the guy who is.

This post was updated Thursday evening to reflect that Dan Janjigian has announced he’s in.

In a development I’ve always dreamed of but never thought I’d actually get to write about, an actor from The Room, the 2003 movie so awful it’s become a great cult classic film, has announced a bid for Congress.

Via the Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek, Daily Kos Election’s (okay, only my) new favorite Democrat in the whole country is Dan Janjigian, who was on Armenia’s two-man bobsledding team during the 2002 Winter Olympics shortly before his star turn as the drug dealer Chris R. (The character is only in one scene and just referred to as “Chris R.”) Janjigian was later played by Zac Efron in The Disaster Artist, the 2017 Oscar-nominated movie about the making of The Room.

On Thursday, Janjigian announced he was launching a bid for the Democratic nod against veteran GOP Rep. John Carter in Texas’ 31st Congressional District, a 54-41 Trump seat in Austin’s northern suburbs. Carter won an unexpectedly expensive contest just 51-48 last year against MJ Hegar, who is now running for the Senate, and he could be vulnerable again in a seat that GOP Sen. Ted Cruz carried only 50.5-48.4. Sadly, though, I doubt that this district has a large enough electorate of fans of trash cinema to give Janjigian much of an opening. Though maybe he could try raising money as Chris R. and see what happens.

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