Politics

FEC asked to probe effort to promote spoiler candidates in Virginia, other states

Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] WASHINGTON (AP) — A secretive group that recruited retired and disabled supporters of Donald Trump to run as third-party spoiler candidates in some of the nation’s most competitive congressional districts was accused of violating campaign finance law in a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission on

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2024

Blue Light Newsroom

WASHINGTON (AP) — A secretive group that recruited retired and disabled supporters of Donald Trump to run as third-party spoiler candidates in some of the nation’s most competitive congressional districts was accused of violating campaign finance law in a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.

The group, the Patriots Run Project, was the subject of a September Associated Press article, which revealed that the group’s operatives scouted conservative candidates online, aided their efforts to qualify for the ballot — and spent considerable resources doing so. The AP’s story also detailed how little is known about the group — which is not registered as a business, political committee or nonprofit organization — even though some aspects of the operation trace directly back to Democrats.

In its complaint to the FEC, the conservative organization Americans for Public Trust argued that Patriots Run Project’s “major purpose” was “influencing federal elections” and the organization thus violated campaign finance law by failing to register as a political committee. That would force the group to file reports that would likely reveal who is managing and financing the operation, as well as the motivation behind it.

The only concrete identifying detail listed on the group’s website is a P.O. Box inside a UPS store in Washington, D.C.

While dirty tricks are as old as American elections, the effort could have profound consequences in the fight to control Congresswhich is expected to be decided by a handful of races. For the past year, Patriots Run Project has recruited Trump supporters to run as independent candidates in key swing districts where they could siphon votes from Republicans.

The AP’s story about the group provoked a swift reaction from Republicans. House Speaker Mike Johnson said on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, that the group’s ties to Democrats were “extremely concerning” and suggested that it was “evidence of election interference by Democrat operatives.”

Republican incumbents who were the focus of the effort also voiced alarm.

“Democrats know they have nothing to run on, so they’ve resorted to using shady tactics,” said Rep. Jen Kiggan’sa first-term Virginia Republican whose race drew a third-party conservative candidate recruited by Patriots Run Project.

In addition to Kiggans’ race in Virginia, Patriots Run Project recruited candidates in Nebraska, Montana, Minnesota and Iowa, though not all ultimately qualified for the ballot. All six recruits described themselves as retired, disabled — or both.

Though little is known about Patriots Run Project, interviews, text messages, emails, business filings and other documents reviewed by the AP show that Democratic consulting firms, including Sole Strategies and Patinkin Research, helped circulate petitions for the candidates or conducted polling.

Politics

World Cup fuels ticketing reform demands

Published

13 hours ago

June 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Demands are growing for a political reckoning over ticket scams at the World Cup — and beyond.

The National Independent Venue Association and Fan Alliance, organizations representing and advocating for entertainment venues and artists respectively, sent a joint letter to Congress on Thursday, calling on lawmakers to ban speculative and ghost tickets, cases where resellers flog tickets they don’t actually have.

The letter — addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer — includes nearly two dozen accounts of fans who say they were scammed out of thousands of dollars trying to get tickets to the World Cup, which began last week. The groups are also asking fans to share their own stories with elected officials via the Fix the Tix Fan Action Center that launched last week.

“Every one of these stories erodes the public’s faith that consumers should and will be protected from fraud,” NIVA Executive Director Stephen Parker and Fan Alliance founder Donald Cohen wrote. “We urge Congress to work with us to prevent fraud like this in the future and finally enact ticket resale consumer protections that will protect Americans and ensure affordability.”

The letter flagged fans like Dacy Gillespie, who bought World Cup tickets for her sons on Christmas, only to learn on match day — months later — that the seller couldn’t deliver them. And Skylie Shore, who Parker and Cohen said spent well over $6,000 on tickets to the Scotland-Haiti match on June 13, but was forced to wait outside the stadium because she couldn’t access them as fans marched in on gameday.

“These examples reveal a consistent pattern: consumer deception, speculative ticket sales, and broken-hearted American families at the hands of resale ticketing companies like StubHub,” Parker and Cohen wrote.

In a statement, StubHub spokesperson Jack Sterne said that the platform does not allow speculative ticket sales, and blamed FIFA for users’ difficulty in accessing their tickets.

“We understand that attending the World Cup represents a significant investment in time and money, and we take our responsibility to every fan who books through our platform seriously,” Sterne said in a statement. “Many of the issues fans are facing trace back to the event organizer’s technology infrastructure, newly announced transfer restrictions, and a new app that was launched just a month ago.”

In response, FIFA said in a statement that the organization “can guarantee the validity and delivery of tickets purchased through its official platforms” and that FIFA.com/tickets “is the official ticket sales channel” for the tournament.

NIVA and Fan Alliance are urging congressional leadership to place universal price-gouging limits on ticket resale, enact stringent fines on perpetrators and a violation-reporting mechanism for ticket scams, and require secondary ticketing platforms to produce data on ticket fulfillment and consumer complaints.

The groups are not the only ones monitoring for evidence of shady ticket practices. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued a consumer guidance in advance of the tournament, urging match-goers to beware of fraud and promising to hold offenders accountable. And the FBI in May put out a public service announcement, warning fans against purchasing tickets on copycat websites modeled on FIFA’s.

“With the World Cup coming to Kansas City, excitement is high and, unfortunately, so is the potential for fraud,” Hanaway said in her statement. “Missourians should be able to enjoy this once-in-a-generation event without fear of being deceived. My office will hold accountable anyone who seeks to exploit our families, and we stand ready to assist anyone who encounters suspicious activity.”