The separate presidential campaign of Cornel West is ineffective. His original campaign manager claims that he has no knowledge of ballot exposure. In his most recent plan finance record, he spent more time on graphical design than complaint collection.
Thanks to self-organized community volunteers — , and some assistance from outdoor workers affiliated with a Democratic consulting firm, tens of thousands of signatures have been collected on behalf of the renowned left-wing scientific in , key states.
Democrats worry that West may be able to steal seats from President Joe Biden in areas where he is up for election, and some Democrats are openly discussing ways to support West and another underdogs like Jill Stein and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in an effort to split the anti-Donald Trump partnership.  ,
For instance, a well-known Democrat activist was spotted in North Carolina in April collecting signatures for West at a Trump protest, telling attendees that it “helps taking away votes from Joe Biden.”
However, a new group formed in the position to obtain West on the vote announced Monday that its” all- volunteer effort” had submitted more than 30, 000 signatures, despite having nearly no oversight and receiving no” a cent” from West’s campaign.
” Without this local work, there’s no way we may have done it”, Drew Lischke, a co- head of the Justice for All Party of North Carolina, said at a news conference. ” This was a very low, low, low budget operation”.
However, it’s unclear who or how much money was spent on the campaign trail, even if his grassroots allies were n’t aware of it. However, internal emails obtained by NBC News, social media posts, and other evidence point to a person from the outside.
Elections officials ‘ emails reveal that the pro-West Justice for All Party authorized three people to pick up and drop off signatures for them statewide, all of whom are current or former employees of a Republican political firm based in Colorado called Blitz Canvassing.
Blitz Canvassing has worked with a number of Republican presidential candidates, including Florida governor and former governor, and received more than$ 14 million in funding from Never Back Down, the main super PAC that supported former Republican presidential candidate. Ron DeSantis, according to campaign finance reports.
There is “in the same way that Republicans have quietly pushed for the Green Party’s right to vote for the Green Party across the country for years” said Pete Kavanaugh, the founder of Clear Choice Action, a new Democratic super PAC working to combat third-party candidates.” In the same way, Republicans have quietly pushed for ballot access for the Green Party in other states of an organized Republican effort to get Cornel West on ballots, using Republican consultants and vendors that the West campaign is not paying for,” Kavanaugh
According to West campaign spokesman Edwin DeJesus, the organization was” not aware of these particular individuals being involved with a Republican firm” and did not therefore have any” specific comments” because we are not familiar with them or their affiliations.
” However, it’s important to note that our volunteer base encompasses a broad spectrum of political affiliations”, DeJesus added.
‘ We have n’t paid them one cent’
A redacted copy of the email, which was shared with NBC News on May 7, was sent to colleagues by a top official at the North Carolina State Board of Elections with “important updates and reminders” about a number of upcoming deadlines and events, according to the email.
An update on the petition efforts of the pro-West Justice For All Party was included on the list. Other officials were notified by the email that Jacob Smith, David Mills, and Charisma Harris, the party’s” chairperson has authorized the following representatives to drop off and pick up petitions” throughout the state.
On Blitz Canvassing’s website, Smith is listed as project manager, and the email addresses match those provided for him in a fundraising email for the Michigan GOP that directed people to him if they had questions. Mills claims on LinkedIn that he works for Blitz as a project manager full-time. And Harris claims on LinkedIn that she currently runs her own canvassing business but that she served as Blitz’s regional political director up until January. Before that, she was a campaign manager for Blitz, where she started working in 2022.
Italo Medelius, a co-chair of the Justice for All Party and its official representative to election officials, acknowledged to NBC News that he had given permission for the three to work for the campaign, claiming that they were aware of the intricacies of the petitioning process.
He claimed that they were named on a list of potential volunteers sent over by West’s campaign, with the mention that they had worked for Blitz, and that he had never heard of the business.
“ I know Charisma, Jacob and David as volunteers”, Medelius said. “ We have n’t paid them one cent”.
He claimed to have known Harris for years and worked with her for the 2020 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, but claimed he only learned about Smith and Mills after they were listed as volunteers for the West campaign.  ,
” We did talk about, from the beginning of this operation, that there might be infiltrators trying to get into the campaign”, Medelius said. ” If there are people that infiltrated or whatever, it could be true, I guess, but I never really had a hint from these folks”.
Smith, Mills and Harris did not respond to multiple requests for comment.  ,
Alyssa Zambrano, a manager at Blitz, claimed in a brief interview that she had no idea why the three were working for the Justice for All campaign and that her company was not working for West.  ,
“ We have nothing to do with that”, Zambrano said. “ We’re not working for them”.
Blitz’s follow-up emails and text messages for more information went unanswered.
‘ Beyond fishy ‘
Before the roles of the consultants were known, local Democrats were alarmed by the geography of the Justice for All signatures.  ,
There were significantly fewer signatures than expected from more Democratic–leaning counties and those with large university campuses, where West’s progressive and pro–Palestine messaging would likely be popular. The pro–West party received a large number of signatures from Republican–leaning counties like Brunswick and New Hanover.
” It’s beyond fishy”, said Doug Heyl, a North Carolina- based Democratic strategist. It appears that many of these are Republican signatures that want Cornel West to support Trump.
A well-known Republican activist who advocates early voting was spotted gathering signatures for West outside a planned rally for former Trump in Wilmington, North Carolina in April.  ,
” This helps take away votes from Joe Biden”, Scott Presler told a rallygoer, according to a video posted 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. Later, due to bad weather, the rally was postponed.  ,
Documents obtained by NBC News suggest that this was more than just a stunt or idle talk.
Different registered Republicans signed petitions to put the pro-West party on the ballot on the same day as the Trump rally and in the same county, according to hundreds of pages of petition signatures submitted by the Justice for All Party and also obtained through a public records request.
On the social media platform X, where Presler has 1.5 million followers, he put out a call ahead North Carolina’s ballot deadline saying,” We are working on getting Dr. Cornel West on the ballot in North Carolina. If anyone is interested in helping, let me know”.
A week later, he posted again to say he had already” sent 40+ folks to our North Carolina organizer, but are still looking for more”.
West claimed he had never heard of the right-wing influencer and that he did not want his assistance when questioned about Presler on CNN in April.  ,
” No, no, I do n’t think so, if it’s just manipulative”, West said. ” No, not at all,” the statement reads,” If people are just going to use this candidate for X and Y, then.”
West campaign struggles
These initiatives are taking place on the backs of a campaign that has struggled with its own efforts.
Any independent or third-party candidate faces the biggest challenge of getting on the ballot, and West’s campaign has stumbled in an effort to do so.
West’s most recent campaign finance report showed he entered May with just$ 18, 000 in cash and more than that —$ 28, 000 — in debt. According to campaign finance expert Rob Pyers, the report revealed that West’s campaign spent more money on graphic design in April than it did on petitioning for voter access.  ,
In contrast, Kennedy, according to his own FEC report covering the same time period, spent more than$ 2 million on a single company that specialized in ballot access for his own independent campaign.  ,
” There’s a Kennedy presence in North Carolina. There’s no West presence here”, said Heyl.
In late April and early May, West’s campaign listed 70 volunteer events across the country, but none were in North Carolina.
West was on track to win the nomination of the Green Party, which has existing infrastructure and ballot lines he could have used before running as an independent. However, West abruptly left the organization last fall, shocking Green Party officials like Jill Stein, who was overseeing his campaign and is now expected to once again be the Greens ‘ nominee in his absence.  ,
In a recent interview with left-wing podcast host Briahna Joy Gray, Stein said,” You ca n’t do ballot access on your first time out .” “ He’s talking about running as a write- in candidate in Texas, but he does n’t know that Texas wo n’t count write- in votes! And that’s true in many states”.
After he accused her of being “addicted” to running for president and claimed he had lost” all respect” for her, West and Stein have been at odds.
Stein claimed that West has refused to talk with her about the situation and explain why he left the Green Party, adding that it was difficult for him to give him any guidance regarding the rules of ballot access and campaign management.
” There is absolutely no pathway forward for Dr. West”, Stein said.
Nevertheless, some people are working to clear a path for him.
