A secretive group recruited far-right candidates in key US House races. It could help Democrats
Several little-known pro-Trump candidates are running for Congress in key races as independents, and an Associated Press review finds they were recruited and backed by the same shadowy group
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Joe Wiederien was an unlikely candidate to challenge a Republican congressman in one of the nation’s most competitive House districts.
A fervent supporter of former President Donald Trump, Wiederien was registered as a Republican until months earlier. A debilitating stroke had left him unable to drive. He had never run for office. For a time, he couldn’t vote because of a felony conviction.
But he arrived last month at the Iowa Capitol with well over the 1,726 petition signatures needed to qualify for the ballot as a conservative alternative to first-term Republican Rep. Zach Nunn. After filing the paperwork, he flashed a thumbs up across the room at an operative he knew only as “Johnny.”
Several other unorthodox candidates have emerged across the country — all backed by the same shadowy group, the Patriots Run Project.
