WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, MoveOn Political Action is renewing its call on Dr. Cornel West to stop working with shady Republican operatives to get on the ballot. According to NBC News, West has been relying on paid operatives from a Republican consulting firm to collect his petition signatures in Arizona. The firm in question, Wells Marketing, is best known for working with MAGA candidate Blake Masters.  

“Working with Trump operatives to defeat President Biden completely undermines Dr. West’s previous contributions as a progressive political activist,” said MoveOn Chief Communications Officer Joel Payne. “MAGA Republicans know that West’s campaign can only hurt Joe Biden and help Donald Trump, and that’s why they’re pouring resources into propping it up. As a man of principle, Dr. West should reject this shady assistance, end his floundering campaign, and do what he can to prevent a second Trump presidency that will undermine our democracy.” 

The Arizona news is eerily similar to earlier reports of West’s reliance on GOP help in North Carolina, where employees from a GOP consulting firm connected to Ron DeSantis were the only authorized people to pick up or drop off signatures for West’s new political party there. 

And the “volunteers” for West recruited by the GOP firm in North Carolina collected petition signatures outside of a Trump rally, with one prominent Republican activist telling attendees that signing “helps take away votes from Joe Biden.” 

In fact, Trump recently said the quiet part out loud at a rally, saying: “Cornel West — he’s one of my favorite candidates,” and that West “takes 100%” of the vote from Biden. 

Meanwhile, in Virginia, West’s petition circulators were caught misleading voters – telling people that signing West’s petition would “get Donald Trump off the ballot.”

BACKGROUND:

• A dozen paid operatives registered in AZ to collect signatures on behalf of Cornel West, listing their employer as Wells Marketing – a Republican firm that recently worked for MAGA candidate Blake Masters.
• The petition circulators spelled West’s name wrong on some of the petitions, listing it instead as ‘Carnel west’ or ‘Cornelle West.’ While we know that Wells Marketing paid the circulators, we don’t know who paid Wells Marketing.
• West’s campaign is broke. According to his last campaign filing, he spent more on graphic design than on petition gathering. 
• In North Carolina, West’s Justice for All Party authorized three employees of a Republican political firm to pick up and drop off signatures. That firm billed more than $14.6 million in payments from Ron DeSantis’s SuperPAC.  
• West “volunteers” have been gathering outside Trump events, asking voters to sign West’s petitions to siphon votes from President Joe Biden.
• Trump himself has encouraged the candidacies of Cornel West and Jill Stein, saying they each take “100%” of their votes from Biden.  

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