GOP House candidates have received $162,000 from fake Trump electors

After the 2020 elections, supporters of former President Donald Trump in seven states fraudulently pretended to be members of the Electoral College and tried to cast votes for the defeated incumbent. Their efforts are reportedly under federal investigation, but that has not stopped House Republican candidates and incumbents from taking their money.

A review of Federal Election Commission campaign finance data reveals that these fake electors have apparently contributed at least $162,064 to the National Republican Congressional Committee and to individual House GOP campaigns in the current and previous cycles.

Because the United States has an Electoral College, citizens vote indirectly for president by selecting representatives called “electors” to do it for them. By and large, electors are legally required to back the candidate who gets the largest plurality of votes in their state.

On Election Day in 2020, Joe Biden won Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, thus winning all of their electors. But the losing pro-Trump slates gathered anyway and pretended to have won.

The GOP electors in New Mexico and Pennsylvania wrote that their votes should be counted if the election was disputed (which Pennsylvania’s results were). The others simply declared themselves the legitimate electors, even though they were not.

Last March, American Oversight (an anti-corruption nonprofit organization) obtained the seven “phony certificates” from the pro-Trump electors from those states. These revealed the 84 fake electors’ names.

At least two of the them are themselves current candidates for public office: Former Rep. Lou Barletta is currently seeking the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania governor, and Jim Lamon is a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona. They and others with names matching those on the certificates made numerous donations to elect Republicans to the House.

These include:

National Republican Congressional Committee

The campaign arm of the House Republican caucus received at least $79,620 from several phony electors: Lamon, Carolyn Hall Fisher of Georgia, David Hanna of Georgia, Mark Hennessy of Georgia, Lupe Garcia of New Mexico, Barletta (through his Leaders Only Unite political action committee), and Josephine Ferro of Pennsylvania.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick

The Pennsylvania representative received at least $20,600 from Barletta’s PAC, Charlie Gerow, and Pat Poprik.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino

The New York representative received at least $1,000 from Barletta’s PAC.

Rep. Mike Garcia

The California representative received at least $3,800 from Lamon.

Rep. Tony Gonzalez

The Texas representative received at least $1,000 from Barletta’s PAC.

Rep. Yvette Herrell

The New Mexico representative received at least $7,600 from Deborah Maestas and Anissa Ford-Tinnin, both of New Mexico.

Rep. Scott Perry

The Pennsylvania representative received at least $9,900 from Barletta’s PAC, Bill Bachenberg of Pennsylvania, and Lisa Vranicar Patton of Pennsylvania.

Rep. David Schweikert

The Arizona representative received at least $6,000 from Lamon and Michael Ward of Arizona.

Rep. Claudia Tenney

The New York representative received at least $3,700 from Barletta’s PAC.

Walt Blackman

The Arizona House candidate received at least $300 from Nancy Cottle of Arizona.

Jim Bognet

The Pennsylvania House candidate received at least $8,350 from Barletta’s PAC, Bachenberg, and Ferro.

John James

The Michigan candidate received at least $7,645 from Hennessy of Georgia and from Hank Choate, Mari-Ann Henry, and John Haggard — all of Michigan.

Paul Junge

The Michigan House candidate received at least $499 from Henry.

Tyler Kistner

The Minnesota House candidate received at least $2,000 from Lamon.

Alexis Martinez Johnson

The New Mexico House candidate received at least $1,300 from Lupe Garcia and Rosalind Tripp, both of New Mexico.

“The past campaign account is closed and we are not apologizing for donors that want change in New Mexico,” a campaign spokesperson told the American Independent Foundation. “We expect the same coverage when [Democratic Rep.] Teresa Leger Fernandez is asked to pay back the $10,000 from the American Federation of Teachers to the people of New Mexico. Teacher’s unions have been holding New Mexico back, keeping us dead last in education in America and keeping mask mandates for children in schools.”

Matt Mowers

The New Hampshire House candidate received at least $1,250 from Maestas of New Mexico and Theodore Christian of Pennsylvania.

Elijah Norton

The Arizona House candidate received at least $2,900 from Lamon.

Lisa Scheller

The Pennsylvania House candidate received at least $4,000 from Barletta’s PAC, Bachenberg, Bernadette Comfort, and Ash Khare — all of Pennsylvania.

Derrick Van Orden

The Wisconsin candidate received at least $600 from Bill Feehan and Robert Spindell Jr., both of Wisconsin.

As of publication, no spokespeople for any of the candidates or incumbents had responded to a request for comment on this story.

Updated with comment from the campaign of Alexis Martinez Johnson received after publication.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.