The Democratic National Committee (DNC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Cornel West’s presidential campaign and three groups with GOP ties. The complaint accuses West’s campaign of accepting illegal in-kind contributions from Republican operatives to aid their efforts to gain ballot access in North Carolina and Arizona. This follows reporting from the Associated Press exposing how Republican operatives have been propping up the ballot access efforts of West and RFK Jr.’s campaigns. 

The DNC’s full letter to the FEC can be read here. 

ICYMI: Washington Post: DNC files FEC complaint against Cornel West

By: Meryl Kornfield

• The Democratic National Committee filed a Federal Election Commission complaint last week against independent presidential candidate Cornel West and several other groups, claiming that they helped contribute to ballot access efforts in Arizona and Georgia.
• The DNC accused the groups of having partisan Republican ties, with the significant implication that Republicans are helping West get on the ballot in key battleground states to give Democratic-leaning voters an alternative to President Biden.
•  The DNC claims the groups — People Over Party, which offered to collect signatures for West in North Carolina, and the political firms Wells Marketing and Blitz Canvassing— provided the work but were not paid as is typical of political groups, indicating these are in-kind donations.
• “In these two battleground states, Cornel West’s campaign has received in-kind contributions well in excess of the limits from Republican leaning entities in violation of federal law,” the complaint reads. “It is indisputable that the West campaign has accepted the benefits of these services.”
• Paul Hamrick, an attorney representing People Over Party, said the group is apolitical in a letter to the state elections board. But NBC previously reported that the three operatives who helped West get on the ballot were either current or past employees of the Republican political firm Blitz Canvassing.