Democratic donors support far-right candidates, including an activist campaigning in Wisconsin’s Senate race

WASHINGTON — Wealthy donor David Steinglass has backed dozens of Democrats running for office and calls himself a transgender rights activist.

That’s why his donation earlier this year to a far-right candidate in the U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin seemed completely inappropriate. He donated the maximum amount of $3,300 to help put a man on the ballot who had these items in the past: was under investigation for a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, is a gun rights activist and has called to ban certain… confirming the treatment of minors.

The donation is not an anomaly, but is part of a larger project. Steinglass’ contributions to “America First” candidate Thomas Leager and the thousands of others he and his wife have given to other independent far-right congressional candidates support an agenda to boost Democrats and siphon Republican votes, an Associated Press investigation found.

As the election cycle enters its urgent final five weeks, both Democrats and Republicans are engaging in questionable tactics that threaten to distort the democratic process by attempting to shape the vote through deceptive means.

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

Leager told the AP that he was recruited to run last year by agents who claimed to be part of the Patriots Run project. The group promoted itself as a grassroots pro-Trump movement that attacked both parties and urged conservatives to run for office as independents. The AP found that the group was supported by Democratic businesses 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 donated tens of thousands of dollars to gain access to ballots for far-right candidates. Supporters include Steinglass and his wife, Liz, who have donated more than $5 million to support Democratic political groups, and others who have contributed to and worked for Democratic candidates.

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

The AP’s findings sparked an investigation in Iowa and prompted the conservative group to file a legal complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accusing it of violating political disclosure laws.

The Patriots Run project came under scrutiny after the AP reported that one of its candidates in an Iowa House race suspected he was cheated and had his name removed from the ballot last month.

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

“Whoever it is, I think this project is going to fail sooner or later,” said Wiederien, who was one of several people recruited to browse the group’s network of now-shuttered Facebook pages.

The Patriots Run Project is not a registered company, nonprofit organization, or political committee. Following last month’s AP report, the group went even deeper underground, shutting down its X (formerly Twitter) account and websites. More than 10 donors and consultants supporting this initiative have not sent any messages.

Liz Steinglass declined to comment when a reporter visited her at her family home in Washington. Her husband, a retired private equity fund manager, did not respond to a message. Records show the pair gave at least $9,900 to three candidates who claimed to have been recruited through the Patriots Run Project.

When a Patriots Run Project employee called him last summer and urged him to enter the Wisconsin Senate race, Leager said he told the group he would be a controversial candidate because of his ties to some of the men accused of plotting mass revolution in 2020, kidnap Whitmer. He was not among several defendants charged in state and federal courts and said he never discussed plans to kidnap her. Court documents show he was among 16 other people named by the Michigan Attorney General’s office as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Nevertheless, the Patriots Run Project organized about $20,000 in donations from Democratic donors to collect the signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot, which went to a company that typically 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 was at legal risk. The prosecutor said during that hearing that Leager was “under investigation for a similar conspiracy involving another” politician, encouraged violence against the FBI on his podcast and invited armed protesters to show up outside the courthouse to intimidate jurors. Leager has denied supporting the violence.

Leager is the former executive director of Wisconsin Gun Owners Inc., which takes a maximalist stance on the Second Amendment. In 2020, he organized protests for ReOpen Wisconsin, which included armed demonstrations opposing government shutdowns and orders aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19.

Thanks to his activities, he met Stephen Robeson, with whom he later broke up when he rightly suspected that he was an FBI informant. Leager attended a field training session in Cambria, Wisconsin, during which investigators said they discussed the idea of ​​attacking government officials.

Leager said he was an associate of Barry Croft, the ringleader of the alleged kidnapping, who is serving a long prison sentence. Croft claims he was imprisoned by government informants and is asking for a new trial.

“I was targeted by the FBI in Wisconsin in the Whitmer case. We just slipped through their nets,” Leager said in March on “The Free Men Report,” a show that Rumble airs.

Leager said an agent calling himself “Johnny Shearer” told him that the Patriots Run Project had seen his work and that he was exactly the candidate they expected, saying the group was impressed “that I didn’t bow to pressure from the feds.”

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

Leager said their money was donated to signature-gathering efforts by Urban Media LLC, a Milwaukee company that usually works for Democrats and has worked for Vice President Kamala Harris and Baldwin.

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

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

Leager said he was “a little suspicious” of the group’s motives, but ultimately he didn’t care. “I thought to myself, ‘If this gets me on the ballot, that’s what it’s all about.’ I wanted to get into the game,” he said.

Leager said the Patriots Run project had no other “real impact” on his campaign, but he was angry that he had been misled.

Hovde has publicly stated that Leager is a “Democratic plant” intended to steal votes from him.

Baldwin’s campaign claimed it had no role in securing Leager on the ballot.

Leager rejected allegations that he would only hurt Hovde, saying he expected votes from both sides.

“They’re trying to tell me I’m some kind of Democrat operative, which is stupid because I’m more conservative than Hovde,” he said.