Independent presidential candidate Cornel West is trying to collect signatures to get as many state ballots as possible, and if he succeeds in North Carolina, it might be thanks to Republican operatives.
NBC News reports that the Justice for All Party, which is supporting West, authorized three people to collect signatures that either work for or used to work for Blitz Canvassing, a Republican political firm. The firm has supported numerous Republican House and Senate candidates, as well as former presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.
A West campaign spokesperson said the campaign wasn’t aware that the three were connected to a Republican firm and did “not have any specific comments since we are not familiar with them or their affiliations.”
The NBC report also noted that a high amount of West’s signatures in the state came from Republican-voting counties, even though West considers himself a socialist advocating pro-Palestine policies. In April, a Republican activist was captured on video gathering signatures for West outside of a Trump rally in Wilmington, North Carolina.
“This helps take away votes from Joe Biden,” the activist told one person at the rally, according to a video posted to X (formerly Twitter) by a Washington Post reporter. “We’re helping the Trump team who’s trying to get him on there,” added a woman by his side.
Pro-Trump activist Scott Presler is at the Trump rally in NC today collecting signatures to get Cornel West on the ballot, which he says will take away votes from Biden pic.twitter.com/WKG5qP3wTg
— Isaac Arnsdorf (@iarnsdorf) April 20, 2024
NBC also obtained petition signatures submitted by the Justice for All Party showing that several registered Republicans signed petitions to get West on the ballot on the same day as the Trump rally and in the same county.
West is not alone among third-party candidates for receiving help from Republicans in order to serve as a spoiler in the 2024 presidential election. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has received most of his campaign contributions from conservatives, has been praised by Donald Trump, and has had conservatives opposed to Biden serving as his advisors. (Unfortunately, that assistance has led Republicans to start worrying that he could hurt Trump in the end.)
West’s campaign has been criticized as a vanity effort likely to have a spoiler effect on Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, if it has any effect at all. Describing the 2024 election, he’s said “Neofascists like brother Trump or milquetoast neoliberals like brother Biden? Wow, I’m so happy to make a world-shaking decision.” In August, a Daily Beast investigation found that he owed $543,778.78 in unpaid taxes.
