In the latest attempt by far-left groups to sway the Republican election outcome, a shadowy group is recruiting unsuspecting candidates to act as potential disruptors in what is expected to be a hotly contested House election.
Over the past year, a group called the Patriots Run Project has been recruiting Trump supporters to run as independents in key battleground districts, potentially siphoning votes away from Republicans in races that could determine which party wins. Control the House of Representatives An Associated Press investigation found that the group will be recruiting candidates next year. In addition to the two Iowa races, the group has recruited candidates in Nebraska, Montana, Virginia and Minnesota. All six of the recruits described themselves as retired, disabled or both.
The group's activities offer few clues about its operations, funding or motivations, but interviews, text messages, emails, business reports and other documents reviewed by The Associated Press show it has spent billions of dollars, some of which has been traced back to Democratic consulting firms.
“At the time, I was thinking, 'I wish I could be in Congress and work with President Trump,'” Joe Wiederien, 54, recalled in an interview outside the VA hospital in Des Moines, where he was recovering from bleeding incisions in his head from previous brain surgery. “Now it seems like a dirty move.”
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A voter casts his or her ballot at a polling station in Fairfax, Virginia, on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (Photographer: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A passionate supporter of the former president Donald TrumpWiederien was a registered Republican until a few months ago. He suffered a severe stroke that left him unable to drive. He has never run for office and was convicted of a felony that at one point prevented him from voting.
But he arrived last month. Iowa After gathering far more than the 1,726 petition signatures needed to appear on the ballot as a conservative replacement for Republican Rep. Zach Nunn, he launched a petition at the Capitol and, after submitting his paperwork, gave a thumbs-up across the room to an operative he called “Johnny.”
Thomas Bowman, 71, who is disabled after a kidney transplant, said he believes he was likely recruited to run against Minnesota Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, likely to split the conservative vote and help Craig get re-elected in her suburban Minneapolis district. But the self-described constitutional conservative expressed gratitude for the unpaid help gathering signatures.
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Americans cast their ballots at a polling station at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin, on Nov. 8, 2022. After months of candidates campaigning, Americans will cast their ballots in midterm elections that will determine the outcome of close races across the country. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
“They put me on the ballot,” Bowman said, “and if I had to do it all on my own, I wouldn't have been able to do it.”
Patriots Run Project's actions led to a complaint to the Federal Election Commission by the conservative group Americans for Public Trust, which alleged that Patriots Run Project's “principal purpose” was “to influence federal elections” and that the organization violated campaign finance laws by failing to register as a political committee.
If this happens, the group will likely be forced to submit a report, which will likely reveal who is controlling and funding this operation and what the motives are behind it.
The only concrete identity listed on the group's website is a mailbox inside a UPS store in Washington, DC.
“This shady Democratic-linked scheme is clearly a threat to democracy, yet all of the Democratic candidates who benefit from it refuse to condemn it,” Republican National Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital. “If they truly mean what they're saying, they can't be silent.”
US Capitol Dome, Washington DC (Associated Press)
The Patriots Run Project ran a series of pro-Trump pages that used apocalyptic rhetoric to attack establishment politicians from both parties and ran ads urging conservatives to run in the November election.
“We need American patriots like you to stand up for freedom with President Trump and run for office to take back power from the globalist elite,” one such ad reads.
Once recruited, they communicated with a small number of operatives through text messages, emails and phone calls. Direct contact was limited. The Patriot Run Project advised them on what paperwork to fill out and how to submit the required paperwork.
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In at least three precincts, petition signatures for ballot eligibility were circulated by a Nevada firm that works closely with Democratic consulting firm Saul Strategies, according to text messages, draft contracts and documents from the firm's co-founders. In Iowa, another Democratic firm ran a poll to test the attacks on Nunn and present Wiederien as a true conservative.
A spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of House Democrats, said the committee had no knowledge of or involvement in the activity. House Majority PAC, the Democratic Party's largest congressional super PAC, also had no involvement, the spokesman said.
Democrats are no stranger to backing extreme candidates. During the midterm elections, the left funded ads for extreme Republican candidates in an effort to make it easier to defeat them in the general election.
Rich Edson of The Associated Press and Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
