A shadowy political organization apparently connected to Democratic Party donors is ostensibly siphoning votes from major Republican candidates and thereby increasing the Democratic Party's chances in the race by targeting conservatives in various parts of the country. He is said to have solicited candidates.
This group is called the Patriots Run Project. AP and is not a U.S. registered company or a non-profit organization registered with the IRS.
“If you're going to use guys like Joe and the Iowans in this room to steal an election, I don't care what your party is, we're going to fight back.”
According to the Associated Press, the Patriots Run Project has identified six people running for Congress in battleground states in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Montana and Virginia, all of whom are retired or disabled. I am a person.
One such candidate is Joe Wiederien, a 54-year-old stroke survivor who was convicted of a DUI-related felony and is running as an independent against Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa). is.
Nunn narrowly won in 2022 by just 2,000 votes and is now on track to win the next election. tough battle He will maintain his seat in 2024.
Wiederien, an avid supporter of former President Donald Trump, told The Associated Press that he was initially excited about the opportunity to run as an “America First” candidate. However, he then began to have concerns and eventually withdrew his name from the race, believing he had been scammed.
“At the time, I thought it would be great to be in Congress and work with President Trump,” Wiederien said. “It seems like a dirty trick.”
Wiederien reportedly shared his story with the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation and filed a fraud complaint. Another group, Americans for Public Trust, complaint About the Patriots Run Project with the FCC.
Congressman Nunn The group supports continued investigation into the group and its apparent attempt to “steal this election.”
“When you try to steal an election by taking advantage of guys like Joe and Iowans here, no matter what your party is, we're going to fight back,” he told a crowd of supporters at a recent campaign event. Ta.
“The stakes could not be higher in November.”
Evidence shows that the Patriots Run Project identified candidates through Facebook ads and surveys, or by searching for political messages posted on social media platforms. Facebook later removed these ads because they appeared to violate the platform's terms of service.
Facebook's parent company, Meta, did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Once individuals were targeted, Patriots Run Project representatives allegedly helped get them onto the ballot.
For example, two operatives who corresponded with Wiederin contacted Common Sense America to help collect signatures on his behalf.
Common Sense America is an LLC headquartered in Las Vegas and formed in February of this year. Colorado corporate disclosure documents list the phone number of a co-founder of Democratic consulting firm Sole Strategies, according to the Associated Press.
The documents also show that a liberal philanthropist from New York City was willing to pay Common Sense America $3,300 to gather signatures for a conservative candidate in Nebraska cultivated by the Patriots Run Project. , the paper continued.
Thomas Rieger, who is running as an “America First” candidate for the Wisconsin Senate, has similarly collected donations from a series of wealthy Democrats, including David and Liz Steinglass. Apparently he received help collecting signatures from the Patriots Run Project. Over the years, he has spent more than $5 million on Democratic PACs.
The Patriots Run Project reportedly raised a total of $20,000 and another Democratic-linked company to collect the signatures of Rieger, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2020 Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot. It is said that he sent it to
Rieger eventually gathered enough signatures to be on the ballot this November and plans to run against incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde. Daily Caller News Foundation Reported.
As some news outlets have pointed out, dubious election tricks are as old as democracy itself, and it's unclear whether these antics are illegal.
Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the plan appears “shady and unethical,” but “it's hard to say whether any laws were broken.”
Still, at least groups like the Patriots Run Project are further eroding public trust in the electoral process.
“This type of activity is a real problem and undermines the functioning of our democracy, whether it's a congressional or presidential election,” said Edward Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University.
The Associated Press left messages with people believed to be Patriots Run Project operatives, but those messages were not returned.
Spokespeople for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the main Democratic PAC, House Majority PAC, denied any involvement in the Patriots Run project.
DCNF reported that Steinglass and Rieger could not be reached for comment.
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