Republicans are central in an effort to rescue Cornel West’s ballot hopes in Arizona

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of lawyers with deep ties to the Republican Party scrambled over the weekend to rescue an effort to get independent presidential candidate Cornel West on the Arizona ballot, offering one of the clearest examples yet of the GOP’s extensive involvement in furthering the left-wing academic’s long-shot bid.

As as a deadline loomed to submit the needed paperwork, two well-known Republican lawyers in the state and an attorney working to get West on the ballot elsewhere learned that two of their would-be electors — Jerry Judie and Denisha Mitchell — were not interested in fulfilling the role. The electors’ decisions led to a barrage of text messages and phone calls looking to keep the operation alive. When those efforts failed, two Republican lawyers visited Judie’s and Mitchell’s homes, seemingly seeking to persuade them to reconsider.

This work appears to be part of a broader effort by conservative activists and Republican-aligned operatives across the country to push West’s candidacy and subvert the integrity of the ballot in the months leading up to November’s presidential election. Republicans are eager for West to be a spoiler in the 2024 presidential election by syphoning away voters who would probably support the Democratic nominee otherwise.

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