FILE - Joseph Wiederien speaks during an interview in Des Moines, Iowa, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

WASHINGTON (AP) — David Steinglass, a wealthy donor, has supported scores of Democrats running for office and calls himself an activist for transgender rights.

So his donation earlier this year to a far-right candidate in Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race seemed wildly out of character. He gave the maximum $3,300 to help get a man on the ballot who had these items in his background: He was investigated in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, he is a gun rights activist and he has called for banning some gender-affirming treatments for minors.

Far from an anomaly, the donation is part of a larger design. Steinglass’ contribution to “America First” candidate Thomas Leager, and thousands more he and his wife gave to other far-right independents in key congressional races, is supporting a plan to boost Democrats and siphon votes from Republicans, an Associated Press examination found.

As the election cycle enters an urgent, final five weeks, both Democrats and Republicans are engaging in questionable tactics that threaten to subvert the democratic process by trying to shape the ballot through deceptive means.

“Whether it’s congressional or presidential races, this kind of activity is a real problem and it undermines the functioning of democracy,” said Edward B. Foley, a law professor who leads Ohio State University’s election law program.

Leager told the AP he was recruited last year to run by operatives who said they were with the Patriots Run Project. That group promoted itself as a pro-Trump grassroots movement that attacked both parties and urged conservatives to run for office as independents. The AP found the group was supported by Democratic firms and donors who worked to install several pro-Trump independent candidates in key House races. Most of them were disabled, retired or both.

Records show Democrats have given tens of thousands of dollars seeking ballot access for the far-right candidates. The supporters include Steinglass and his wife, Liz, who have given more than $5 million to support Democratic political groups, and others who have contributed to and worked for Democratic candidates.

While the strategy hasn't always worked, Leager is among the candidates who qualified for the Nov. 5 ballot and could complicate Republicans' efforts to reclaim the Senate. He’s running as a right-wing alternative to GOP nominee Eric Hovde, who is challenging two-term Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

The AP’s findings triggered a criminal investigation in Iowa and prompted a conservative group to file a legal complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that it had violated political disclosure laws.

The Patriots Run Project came under scrutiny after the AP reported that one of its candidates in a House race in Iowa suspected he’d been tricked and removed his name from the ballot last month.

The man, Joe Wiederien, who is impaired after suffering a stroke, said an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent visited him last week and he filed an election fraud complaint.

“Whoever it is, I think that project is going down sooner or later,” said Wiederien, who was among several recruited to run through the group’s network of now-shuttered Facebook pages.

The Patriots Run Project is not a registered business, nonprofit organization or political committee. After AP’s report last month, the group moved even further underground, disabling its account for X, formerly Twitter, and websites. More than 10 donors and consultants supporting its efforts haven’t returned messages.

Liz Steinglass declined comment when a reporter visited her at the family's Washington, D.C., home. Her husband, a retired private equity fund manager, didn't return a message. The couple has given at least $9,900 to three candidates who said they were recruited by the Patriots Run Project, records show.

When an operative for Patriots Run Project called him last summer and urged him to enter the Senate race in Wisconsin, Leager said he told the group that he would be a controversial candidate because of his association with some of the men charged in the 2020 plot to kidnap Whitmer. He was not among several defendants charged in state and federal court, and he has said he never discussed plans to kidnap her. Court documents show he was among 16 others listed by the Michigan attorney general’s office as an unindicted co-conspirator.

But the Patriots Run Project nonetheless arranged roughly $20,000 in donations from Democratic donors to gather the signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, which went to a firm that usually works for Democrats.

Leager was subpoenaed to testify at a 2022 trial for four defendants and exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination after a judge found he had legal exposure. A prosecutor said at that hearing Leager was “under investigation for a similar plot involving a different” politician, had encouraged violence against the FBI on his podcast, and had invited armed protesters to appear outside a courthouse in an effort to intimidate jurors. Leager has denied supporting violence.

Leager is former executive director of Wisconsin Gun Owners Inc., which takes a maximalist position on the Second Amendment. In 2020, he organized protests for ReOpen Wisconsin, which included armed demonstrations opposing government closures and mandates intended to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Through his activism he became acquainted with Stephen Robeson, with whom he later broke after correctly suspecting he was an FBI informant. Leager attended a field training exercise in Cambria, Wisconsin, where investigators alleged the idea of attacking government officials was discussed.

Leager said he was an associate of alleged kidnapping plot leader Barry Croft, who is serving a lengthy prison term. Croft argues he was entrapped by government informants and is asking for a new trial.

“I was the Wisconsin target for the FBI in the Whitmer case. We just happened to slip through their nets,” Leager said in March on “The Free Men Report,” a show he streams on Rumble.

Leager said an operative calling himself “Johnny Shearer” told him Patriots Run Project had seen his work and he was the exact type of candidate they wanted, saying the group was impressed “that I had not caved under pressure from the feds.”

Six donors gave Leager the maximum $3,300 donation. In addition to David Steinglass, they include venture capitalist Richard Thompson of Wyoming and political consultant Joe Fox, a veteran of Democratic campaigns and House Majority PAC, congressional Democrats' super PAC.

Leager said their money paid for signature-gathering efforts by Urban Media LLC, a Milwaukee firm that usually works for Democrats and has done work for Vice President Kamala Harris and Baldwin.

The Steinglass family, Fox and Thompson also donated to independent conservative candidates Robert Reid and Thomas Bowman in House races in Virginia and Minnesota, records show.

A small network of Democratic donors also supported the three candidates as well as Vann Whitley, who unsuccessfully sought ballot access as a Libertarian in a Colorado House race.

Leager said he was “suspicious a little bit” of the group’s motives but that he ultimately didn’t care. “I was like, ‘if this gets me on the ballot, that’s the main point.’ I wanted to get in the game,” he said.

Leager said the Patriots Run Project had no other “real influence” on his campaign but he was angry to have been misled.

Hovde has alleged publicly that Leager is a “Democrat plant” intended to take votes from him.

Baldwin’s campaign said it had no role in getting Leager on the ballot.

Leager rejected the allegation that he would hurt only Hovde, saying he expects to take votes from both sides.

“They are trying to say I am some kind of Democratic operative, which is silly because I am more conservative than Hovde is,” he said.

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Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa. AP news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024