Republicans have made efforts to put Cornel West on the ballot in Arizona. The left-wing academic agrees

WASHINGTON– A group of lawyers with close ties to the Republican Party scrambled over the weekend to salvage an attempt to put independent presidential candidate Cornel West on the Arizona ballot, providing one of the clearest examples of Republicans' extensive commitment to promoting the left-wing academic's hopeless candidacy.

As the deadline to file the required paperwork approached, two prominent Republican attorneys in the state and a GOP lawyer trying to get West on other districts' ballots learned that two of their potential electors – Jerry Judie and Denisha Mitchell – were not interested in taking the role. The electors' decisions prompted a barrage of text messages and phone calls trying to keep the operation alive. When those efforts failed, a Republican attorney and the former GOP state representative visited Judie and Mitchell at home and apparently tried to persuade them to reconsider their decision.

The Arizona Secretary of State's office said Monday that West did not submit the necessary paperwork to be placed on the ballot before the Saturday deadline.

In a brief interview, West was ambivalent about Republican efforts to help him. Democrats fear that these efforts could benefit Donald Trump by luring away left-leaning voters who would otherwise likely support the Democratic candidate.

“A lot of American politics is highly gangster-like activity,” West told the Associated Press on Monday. “I have no idea who they are or anything – nothing. We just want to get on the ballot. And that's the hard part.”

The work of the Republican lawyers appears to be part of a broader effort by conservative activists and Republican-allied operatives across the country to advance West's candidacy and undermine the integrity of the election in the months leading up to the November presidential election.

“I'm officially no longer interested in being an elector,” said Judie, a 62-year-old retired Phoenix city park ranger, when an agent working to get West on the ballot texted him and asked if he could meet at a local hotel to sign another document.

Judie told the AP he has been a fan of West since his 20s and was drawn to his ideas and passion. Earlier this year, he was thrilled to learn West was running for president and jumped at the chance to become an elector for the progressive's campaign. But Judie began to dismiss that idea when President Joe Biden ended his campaign last month, making way for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee.

“When she was behind the wheel, everything changed,” he said. “It changed everything for me, my family and the people I know. It was like magic.”

To qualify for the ballot, Arizona law requires independent presidential candidates to compile a list of electors who will cast their votes for them in the Electoral College. After Judie told the agent he was no longer interested in representing West's campaign, he received a series of phone calls from people working on the campaign, according to call records obtained by the AP. He also received home visits from two Republicans hoping to get West on the ballot.

“I'm sorry … we've been so verbally abusive to you,” Paul Hamrick, an attorney who has lobbied for West's election in other states, said in a voicemail to Judie obtained by AP. “We've been trying to reach you because we've learned in the last 24 hours that we need to have everyone sign a letter that Dr. West signed.”

Hamrick then said he knew Judie no longer wanted to be an elector. “Can you tell me anything about that, or did someone advise you not to be one?” Hamrick asked.

Judie said two people came to his door wanting to speak to him after he got the voicemail. He didn't answer them or speak to them – he assumed they wanted to talk about West – but someone Judie knows spoke to them. They identified themselves as Amanda Reeve, a former registered lobbyist and election policy consultant with the Snell law firm and Wilmer and Brett Johnson, a well-known lawyer at the firm.

Reeve is a former Republican congressman and Johnson is a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association. The firm of Reeve and Johnson has done a lot of work for the Republican National Committee, GOP candidates and conservative groups, according to campaign finance filings.

Republicans and their allies have been working to get West on the ballot in Arizona, Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maine. They hope that by taking support away from Harris, West will boost former President Donald Trump's chances of winning later this year. West doesn't have to win a state to be considered a troublemaker — a few thousand votes in swing states could be decisive.

Reeve also called Mitchell after AP reported Friday that she signed an affidavit stating she did not agree to be an elector from West and that she had never signed a filing with her name. He claimed that the document filed in her name was forged.

“We need to get this information as soon as possible,” Reeve said in a voicemail to Mitchell on Friday, adding that her firm represents “the Cornel West campaign.”

“It’s due tomorrow morning,” Reeve stressed.

On Saturday, two people – one resembling Johnson, another Reeve – visited Mitchell's home, according to doorbell footage obtained by AP. The two rang the bell and left without speaking to anyone in the house.

Neither Johnson nor Reeve responded to calls or emails seeking comment for this story.

Mitchell said after the AP article was published Friday — in which she said she “didn't even know what an elector was” and that the paperwork was “fake” and full of errors — she received a call from someone who had been handling petition work for West. She missed the call, but when she called back, she was connected to Hamrick.

Hamrick, an Alabama lawyer, said the allegations against him were “false” when they were received Sunday evening but declined further comment.

The Mitchell and Judie cases are the latest examples of the questionable tactics being used to get West on the ballot across the country.

Mitchell, who was drawn to West's progressive message before learning that Republican-aligned activists were working to put him on the ballot, told the AP on Friday she did not know who filled out the paperwork on her behalf and called it “fake.” She and her husband previously worked for a signature gatherer called Wells Marketing, collecting signatures to put an initiative on the ballot that would raise the wages of workers who receive tips in Arizona.

Wells Marketing, a mysterious limited liability company in Missouri, also led the effort to collect the signatures needed to put West on the Arizona ballot.

As Judie reflected on the chaotic past three days, he said he had a bad feeling, especially because he still respected West.

“They had one reason for doing it,” Judie said. “They just wanted to get him on the ballot so some votes would go to him and not to other people.”

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Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix and Farnoush Amiri in Chicago contributed.