‘Spoiler candidate’ drops out of Minnesota’s competitive Second District race

A third party candidate who was recruited online by a mysterious group to run as a spoiler in the Second Congressional District is dropping out of the race.

Thomas Bowman said Thursday he was convinced that a group called the Patriots Run Project is aligned with Democrats and tricked him into running to hurt GOP candidate Joe Teirab. Bowman suspended his campaign and endorsed Teirab, a former assistant federal prosecutor challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig.

Bowman lives outside the district in Brooklyn Center and said he was approached on Facebook by the Patriots Run group because of his political views, including his support for former President Donald Trump. The organization provided Bowman with nearly $20,000 worth of in-kind donations by collecting the 1,000 signatures he needed to be on the ballot.

“I feel like I have been used pretty badly by these people,” Bowman said Thursday. He said he was convinced Democrats were behind the effort to get him to run.

“Maybe Angie [Craig] didn’t know about these people, but she should call them out for what they are doing,” Bowman said. “The truth matters.”

Craig’s campaign denies having any knowledge or connection to the Patriots Run Project.

“Our campaign had no involvement with Mr. Bowman’s effort to get on the ballot,” Katie Kelsh, campaign spokeswoman, said Thursday.

News organizations and groups that track online misinformation raised questions about the Patriots Run Project, which recruited candidates in competitive congressional races in four other states. The Associated Press reported the group’s donors have ties to Democratic consulting firms and that its efforts could help Democrats win back control of Congress.

The Patriots Run group sought out far-right Trump supporters like Bowman with messages that characterized the Democratic and Republican parties as a “uniparty of corporate, elitist politicians who are selling out America.” Facebook took down the network’s pages in June after an international watchdog, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, released a report saying that the group violated the site’s ban on “deceptive political advertising and coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

Teirab welcomed Bowman’s support, calling him a “true patriot” for calling out “dirty tricks” to influence the campaign. “This kind of deceptive and manipulative behavior from the Democrats is a new low and has no place in American politics,” Teirab said in a statement.

The Second District is Minnesota’s most competitive congressional race, covering the southern Twin Cities suburbs and stretching down through Le Sueur County. Political experts say Craig has an edge in her bid for a fourth term, thanks to her name recognition and cash advantage, but it is not a slam dunk.

The Minnesota congressional seat is among the 43 likely to decide control of Congress and has drawn millions in spending. Craig defeated Republican Tyler Kistner by 5.3% in 2022, an improvement from her 2020 margin of 2.3% over Kistner.