Meshawn Maddock, one of the 16 fake electors criminally charged in Michigan and former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, has donated more than $1,800 to Trump this campaign cycle. Tyler Bowyer, a charged fake elector in Arizona, has donated $645 to the Republican nominee. A fake elector in Georgia who has not been criminally charged, David Hanna, has given at least $25,000 to Trump this year alone.
“It is incredibly rare for politicians to accept campaign contributions from people under indictment,” Michael Beckel, the research director at election watchdog group Issue One, told The Guardian. “It’s generally not good optics for politicians to accept money from people accused of serious wrongdoing. Political candidates generally don’t want to be tied to convicted or accused felons. Yet in certain circles, association with the people who served as fake electors for Donald Trump in 2020 may be a badge of honor.”
Republicans running in U.S. House races have also benefited from their affiliation to Trump and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, raking in campaign contributions from the fake electors on their home turf. In 2023, Arizona Representative Eli Crane received $2,900 from Jim Lamon, one of the 18 criminally charged co-defendants in that state, and Representative Yvette Herrell has received more than $3,000 and $2,900 from a pair of fake electors in New Mexico.
