Posted on 09/18/2024 12:55:59 PM PDT by TBP
Minnesota Democrats have complained in past elections of dirty deeds in the race for the 2nd Congressional District.
In both 2020 and 2022, candidates claiming to be with marijuana legalization parties filed to run in what Democrats feared was an attempt to draw votes from Democratic incumbent Angie Craig. One even left a voicemail message for a friend saying he had, in fact, been recruited as a spoiler candidate.
It didn’t work. Craig won by more than enough votes to compensate for any skimming of votes. And in a bizarre coincidence, both legalization candidates died before Election Day.
This year, however, a campaign has emerged from the right with odd origins. Thomas Bowman, who lives in Brooklyn Center outside the boundaries of CD2 submitted the 1,000 voter signatures to win ballot placement under the party name “Constitutional Conservative.”
It could be a factor in the race between U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and GOP challenger Joe Teirab, considered one of the closest in the country, with party control of the House at stake.
Bowman told MinnPost on Monday that he had been contacted by someone who had seen some of his postings on Facebook and asked if would be interested in running in the 2nd Congressional District if they took care of the signature gathering. Bowman said yes.
According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports, six out-of-state funders gave the maximum allowed — $3,300 each — to Bowman’s campaign. Some of the donors have given to Democratic causes and candidates, and at least three helped fund an “America First” candidate for the Wisconsin Senate, Thomas Leager.
David and Elizabeth Steinglass of Washington, D.C., for example, gave money to Thomas Leager in Wisconsin (David Steinglass) and Bowman (Elizabeth Steinglass) yet were listed among the large Democratic donors who urged President Joe Biden to modify his policies toward Israel.
Elizabeth and David Steinglass have given $3,300 to Craig’s reelection and have contributed to other Democratic campaigns and committees.
An Associated Press examination found similar efforts in other states where conservative candidates were recruited to run in close races. The AP attributed the effort to a shadowy organization called the Patriots Run Project that posted conservative messages on Facebook and invited people to complete online surveys.
“For the past year, the group has recruited Trump supporters to run as independent candidates in key swing districts where they could siphon votes from Republicans in races that will help determine which party controls the House next year, an Associated Press review has found. In addition to two races in Iowa, the group recruited candidates in Nebraska, Montana, Virginia and Minnesota. All six recruits described themselves as retired, disabled — or both.”
Chip Tangen is the vice chair and political director of the Libertarian Party of Minnesota. He said he thinks Democratic interests are doing what Democrats accused Republicans of doing in 2020 and 2022: placing candidates on the ballot to suck votes from the other party.
“It’s disheartening,” he said.
Tangen said both the DFL and GOP chairs cited “shenanigans” as the reason why election rules needed to be tightened, something third party organizations opposed. Minnesota already has some of the strictest rules for placing third party candidates on the ballot with the state’s 1,000 signature requirement being among the hardest tests.
The DFL-controlled Legislature made it harder to qualify as a major party — increasing the vote total needed in any statewide race such as for governor or auditor from 5% of the vote to 8%. And it imposed new tests that ultimately cost the Legal Marijuana Now party its major party status. Parties that achieve that major-party status don’t need to gather signatures but lose control over who runs under their banners. Anyone who pays the filing fee can enter the primary, and the leading vote-getter goes onto the general election ballot.
Third parties without major party status must gather signatures but move to the general election automatically if they do. While the third party signature requirement wasn’t increased, Tangen said he and other third party leaders resented the attempt by the big parties to make it harder for others to compete.
“The justification we kept hearing for why they needed to pass this was ‘shenanigans’ and they specifically raised the 2nd Congressional District as an example,” Tangen said. “So their legislation clearly didn’t stop the shenanigans — you might say it raised the price tag.”
Tangen said that when he saw that Bowman had qualified for the ballot his first thought was “good on you, because collecting 1,000 signatures ain’t easy” in the two-week period allotted by state law. But then he grew suspicious when he saw the party name, a title that seemed designed to pull votes away from disgruntled GOP voters in the 2nd.
“We worked hard to get our candidate for the U.S. Senate on the ballot,” Tangen said. Those 2,000 signatures were a big enough lift that the Libertarians did not have the resources to also qualify congressional candidates.
State DFL party spokesperson Darwin Forsyth was asked about the apparent involvement of Democratic interests in Bowman’s candidacy. “We’re not aware of any DFL or DFL-aligned efforts to support the Minnesota candidate mentioned here, so I’m not sure we’d have much to add until/unless there’s more information,” he wrote.
Bowman said in the interview Monday that he was contacted but couldn’t locate the name of the person who did so. He said the person offered to do the work of collecting voter signatures to place Bowman on the ballot.
“Basically what they did was say if you want to do it, we’ll help. Maybe we can get you some signatures, and it’s your campaign,” he said, adding that not being an incumbent he didn’t know how to get on the ballot. Even though he doesn’t live in the 2nd District, that is where they wanted him to run.
He said he expects that because he isn’t part of the “monoparty,” he’ll be stepped on for running.
“That’s all right. I’ve been stepped on before,” Bowman said.
Bowman’s Facebook page features a photo of him over a map of the 2nd Congressional District but uses pre-2020 redistricting boundaries. He said he will post his views on issues on a website soon but emphasized his support for congressional term limits and said he supports Donald Trump because both major parties are afraid of him.
He also offered his theory of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, saying that the buildings could not have collapsed the way they did without explosive charges being placed inside the towers. The debunked claim is among those touted by conspiracy theorists.
While Bowman acknowledged that his presence on the ballot could help Craig and hurt GOP nominee Joe Teirab, he said he considers both to be members of the monoparty, a phrase used by those who feel there is little difference between Republicans and Democrats.
“If it affects the vote, I’m really sorry if it keeps the Republican candidate from getting in,” Bowman said. He said the offer of help to qualify for the ballot “suggests that at least there’s somebody who thinks I’m not crazy and could make a credible representative.
“If people don’t agree, then definitely they shouldn’t vote for me,” Bowman said. He hopes to have a webpage posted soon at twb4congress.com.
If they’ll create fake CANDIDATES...
..They’ll certainly create fake VOTES.
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