Independent in key House race suspends campaign, saying he was ‘pawn’ in election fraud scheme

A congressional candidate who said he was tricked by Democrats into entering a competitive House race as a spoiler Minnesota On Thursday he suspended his campaign and endorsed his Republican rival.

Thomas Bowman, an independent leader in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, said he had come to realize he was a “pawn” for Democrats who were deceptively trying to split the conservative vote.

Bowman was among candidates recruited by the Patriots Run Project, which sought to install pro-Trump conservatives as independent candidates in at least eight key House and Senate races.

A AP research found a range of democratic opinions companies and donors are secretly driving these efforts, which used deceptive Facebook pages and websites to recruit candidates and fund efforts to qualify for the ballot.

Bowman said he would suspend his campaign and support Republican Joe Teirab, who is seeking to dethrone Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in suburban Minneapolis. His name will remain on the ballot.

“I certainly spent a lot of time and effort trying to influence the race as a pawn in this scheme here,” said Bowman, 71, a retiree who had campaigned as a constitutional conservative.

In an interview with AP last month, Bowman said he suspected he had been recruited by Democratic operatives in hopes of re-electing Craig and that he received nearly $20,000 in donations to collect signatures to access the ballots. At the time, he said he saw nothing wrong with the arrangement.

Bowman said he changed his mind in part after learning that one of the donors, Elizabeth Steinglass, had also given to Craig’s campaign. Steinglass and her husband, David, have given millions to Democratic political candidates and groups, and both have given the most to Craig’s campaign this cycle.

“Thomas is a true patriot for his willingness to boldly pull off the dirty tricks that Angie Craig’s allies pulled in an attempt to interfere in the election,” Teirab said in a statement.

The Craig campaign said it had no involvement “in Mr. Bowman’s efforts to get on the ballot.”

The Steinglass family, who declined to comment, and a number of other Democratic donors have given money to other candidates recruited by the Patriots Run Project.

Some of the group’s recruits did not make it to the ballot, and Bowman is the second to drop out after realizing they had been manipulated.

In Iowa, the Division of Criminal Investigation has opened an election fraud investigation after independent candidate Joe Wiederien said he was misled and had his name removed from the ballot in a competitive House of Representatives race.

A complaint A complaint has also been filed with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that the group has failed to register as a political committee, which would likely reveal the identities of its management and donors. Facebook removed the group’s pages and the websites were taken down.

In Wisconsin, “America First” candidate Thomas Leager announced Monday that he would remain in the race against Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin and her Republican challenger Eric Hovde. He said he “made the mistake of trusting the Patriots Run Project” but was undeterred.

“Ultimately, I am grateful and blessed to have the opportunity to try to serve the state and country I love to the best of my ability,” he said.

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