The 84 people who signed bogus documents claiming that Donald Trump won the 2020 election include dozens of local Republican Party leaders, four current candidates for public office, six current office holders and at least five previous state and federal office holders.
Groups from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all allegedly met in December 2020 and sent lists of so-called alternate electors to the National Archives after the 2020 election. The scheme is reportedly under investigation by the FBI and the Department of Justice, which have issued subpoenas to several of the people involved.
The plot is also a focus of the U.S. House select committee hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and GOP attempts to overturn the results of the election.
During a recent committee hearing, Rep. Adam Schiff explained how Trump and his campaign were directly involved in the scheme to replace Joe Biden’s legitimate electors. They convinced people to sign onto documents that would be used if Trump were successful in litigation but then continued the scheme anyway, even as the campaign continuously lost in court and top advisers and lawyers backed away from involvement.
Schiff also displayed text messages revealing how Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin likely played a part in the scheme. The texts showed how Johnson’s chief of staff attempted to coordinate the handoff of the slate of fake electors to former Vice President Mike Pence. Johnson initially denied any involvement, but then admitted he was on an email chain regarding the scheme.
Despite renewed attention in Washington on the fake electors, the vast majority of people involved in the scheme have so far escaped scrutiny.
In January, States Newsroom published a full list of the fake electors. Since that time, as the investigation has intensified, the people involved have appeared on the ballot in primaries, been subpoenaed, and have left their positions or started new ones.
The slate of fake electors now includes at least three current candidates for office, including Burt Jones, who won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor in Georgia and will appear on the ballot in November, and Jim Lamon, a candidate for U.S. Senate from Arizona.
The slate also includes four people who have lost elections since signing their names as fake electors. Lou Barletta and Charlie Gerow both ran in the Republican primary for Pennsylvania governor but lost the election in May. Kelly Ruh was an alderperson for De Pere, Wisconsin, until recently but lost reelection in April. Robert Spindell Jr., a member of the Wisconsin Election Commission, lost his internal commission election to chair the group.
The group also includes seven current officeholders:
- Jake Hoffman, an Arizona state representative.
- Burt Jones, a Georgia state senator.
- Stanley Grot, the Shelby Township clerk in Michigan.
- Amy Facchinello, a member of the school board in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
- Robert Spindell Jr., a member of the Wisconsin Election Commission.
- Josephine Ferro, the Monroe County Register of Wills in Pennsylvania.
- Sam DeMarco III, an Allegheny County at-large council member in Pennsylvania.
The list of fake electors includes the chair, former chair or co-chair of the state Republican Party in all seven states, and others for whom political controversy and investigations are nothing new. Gloria Kay Godwin of Georgia has been accused of stalking after allegedly attempting to interfere in a citizen effort to obtain signatures for a recall election petition.
In January, the Congressional Select Committee on January 6th announced it had subpoenaed 14 of the counterfeit electors who it believes have information about how they met and who was behind the scheme, according to committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss. Each of the 14 served as “chair” or “secretary” on the state slates of fake electors.
In March 2021, liberal watchdog group American Oversight made public the fake elector documents, which it received in response to a public records request.
Attorneys general from the states involved in the scheme have investigated whether to bring charges against the Trump backers who participated, but no charges have been filed to date.
Here is a comprehensive list of all the bogus electors from the seven states, including the people who were slated to sign the documents but were replaced with alternates:
(An * indicates a person who was listed as chairperson or secretary of their state group and who was subpoenaed by the House Jan. 6 committee.)
ARIZONA (11)
Nancy Cottle*: Cottle is the first vice president of programs for the Arizona Federation of Republican Women. She has been active in Arizona politics for the past decade and holds various other positions on the Maricopa County Republican Committee and the AZGOP executive committee. She was issued a subpoena by the Department of Justice in June, according to the Washington Post.
Loraine B. Pellegrino*: Pellegrino has served as president of Ahwatukee Republican Women. She was issued a subpoena by the Department of Justice in June, according to the Washington Post.
Tyler Bowyer: Bowyer is the chief operating officer of Turning Point USA, a Phoenix-based nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative values in schools. He has previously worked for the Republican National Committee and the Maricopa County Republican Party.
Jake Hoffman: Hoffman is an Arizona state representative for the 12th District. Hoffman also runs a conservative digital marketing company, Rally Forge, that was banned from Facebook and suspended from Twitter for engaging in “coordinated inauthentic behavior” on behalf of Turning Point Action, an affiliate of Turning Point USA. The company was enlisting and paying teens to share comments with right-wing opinions, including that mail-in ballots would lead to fraud and that coronavirus numbers were intentionally inflated. Experts told the Washington Post in 2020 that the effort was “among the most ambitious domestic influence campaigns uncovered this election cycle.”
Anthony Kern: From January 2015 until January 2021, Kern was an Arizona state representative for the 20th District. He is currently running for election to the Arizona state Senate to represent the 27th District. Kern, whose campaign has been endorsed by Trump, participated in the Jan. 6 riots in D.C. and has lied about breaching the U.S. Capitol building
Jim Lamon: Lamon is running for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Arizona. He is a veteran and was previously CEO of DEPCOM Power, a solar energy contractor, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Robert Montgomery: In 2020, Montgomery served as the chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee.
Samuel I. Moorhead: Moorhead serves as the second vice chair of the Gila County Arizona Republican Party.
Greg Safsten: Safsten was until recently the executive director of the Republican Party of Arizona. He previously worked for U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs and former Rep. Matt Salmon, both of Arizona, in their U.S. House offices, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Dr. Kelli Ward: Ward is an osteopathic physician who has served as the chair of the Arizona Republican Party since 2019. Following the 2020 election, Ward aided Trump’s efforts to invalidate the election results and filed a number of lawsuits to nullify Arizona’s results. In 2016, she challenged the late U.S. Sen. John McCain in the Republican primary but lost with 39 percent of the vote. She previously served in the Arizona state Senate. She was issued a subpoena by the Department of Justice along with her husband in June, according to Politico.
Dr. Michael Ward: Ward met his wife, Kelli Ward, while he was serving in the Arizona Air National Guard. In 2019, he was accused of spitting in the eye of a former volunteer of his wife’s when she was a candidate for Senate because the volunteer went on to support her former political foe, Martha McSally. Michael Ward denied touching, pushing, threatening or spitting on the volunteer in an email to police, according to the Arizona Republic. He was issued a subpoena by the Department of Justice along with his wife in June, according to Politico.
GEORGIA (16)
Joseph Brannan: Brannan is treasurer of the Georgia Republican Party, a media executive, and a leader in the Muscogee County party.
James “Ken” Carroll: Carroll is assistant secretary for the Georgia Republican Party.
Vikki Townsend Consiglio: Consiglio is assistant treasurer for the Georgia Republican Party and is on the board of governors for the Georgia Republican Foundation.
Carolyn Hall Fisher: Fisher was until recently the first vice chairman for the Georgia Republican Party.
Burt Jones: Jones has been a member of the Georgia state Senate since 2013, representing the 25th District. He is the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor and is endorsed by Trump.
Gloria Kay Godwin: Godwin is a local Republican Party leader in Blackshear and the co-founder of the grassroots group Georgia Conservatives in Action, according to her LinkedIn profile. In September 2020, she was accused of stalking after allegedly attempting to interfere in a citizen effort to obtain signatures for a recall election petition for Godwin’s grandson, District Five City Council member Shawn Godwin. She told the Blackshear Times that she was unaware of the complaint.
David G. Hanna: Hanna was CEO and co-founder of Atlanticus Holdings Corporation, an Atlanta-based financial holding company, until he left the post in March 2021.
Mark W. Hennessy: Hennessy is the CEO of several car dealerships around the Atlanta area.
Mark Amick: Amick is on the board of governors for the Georgia Republican Foundation. In 2019, Amick unsuccessfully ran for city council in Milton. In 2020, he served as a poll watcher in Milton County and testified in a hearing after the election that he saw more than 9,000 votes wrongly go to Joe Biden during the first Georgia recount.
John Downey: Downey was a House district chair for the Cobb County Republican Party.
Cathleen Alston Latham: Latham is a teacher with the Georgia Virtual School, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Daryl Moody: Moody is a GOP donor who is currently the chairman of the Georgia Republican Foundation.
Brad Carver: A lawyer focused on energy, utilities, environmental and local government law, Carver is a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association. Carver represents clients before the Georgia Public Service Commission in the Georgia General Assembly. Federal agents delivered a subpoena to his home in June, according to the Washington Post.
David Shafer*: Shafer is chairman of the state GOP and a Georgia state senator from 2003 to 2019 who was state Senate president pro tempore for many of those years. In 2018, he ran for lieutenant governor and lost in the primary. He was also accused that year of sexual harassment by a lobbyist, but was cleared by the Senate ethics committee. Federal agents delivered a subpoena to his home in June, according to the Washington Post.
Shawn Still*: Still is the GOP nominee for Georgia state Senate to represent District 48. He is the president of Olympic Pool Plastering & Shotcrete and has served as chairman of the Georgia Republican Party Finance Committee and on the executive committee for the Georgia GOP.
C.B. Yadav: A small business owner in Camden County, Yadav is a member of the Georgians First Commission under the governor’s office. He was an early supporter of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s gubernatorial campaign and worked as part of his campaign’s “grassroots army.”
Slated to sign but replaced:
John A. Isakson: Isakson is the chief financial officer for Preferred Apartment Communities. His father, Johnny Isakson, served as a U.S. senator from Georgia from 2005 to 2019 and represented Georgia’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House from 1999 to 2005.
Patrick Gartland: Gartland has served as the Cobb County Republican Party’s representative on the board of election.
CJ Pearson: A conservative activist, political adviser and commentator on cable news, Pearson has served as the executive director of Young Georgians in Government and executive director of Teens for Trump. He recently served as the campaign manager for Vernon Jones, who lost his Republican primary runoff in June in a bid to win a congressional seat.
Susan Holmes: A member of the Georgia House of Representatives from the 129th District, Holmes has also served as mayor of Monticello for 12 years.
MICHIGAN (16)
Kathy Berden*: Berden is a national committeewoman of the Republican Party of Michigan who has worked for the GOP at the local, state and national level. Berden and her husband own an organic farm.
Rose Rook: A retired real estate agent, Rook was previously a Democrat and got involved with the Republican Party in 2016. She is the former Van Buren County GOP chair and served on the executive committee of the county party and as president of the Van Buren County Republican Women’s Club.
Mayra Rodriguez*: Rodriguez is the Grosse Pointe Farms chair for the 14th District Republican Committee.
Hank Choate: Choate is a dairy farmer who sits on the board of directors for the Michigan Milk Producers Association. In 2017, he met with Trump to discuss agricultural issues. He said he became involved in Republican politics in 2010 and went on to serve as chair of the Jackson County Republican Party for four years and served as chair of the party’s 7th District.
Meshawn Maddock: Maddock is the Michigan Republican Party co-chair and serves on the national advisory board of Women for Trump. She is co-owner of A1 Bail Bonds, a bail bondsman company, along with her spouse, GOP state Rep. Matt Maddock.
Mari-Ann Henry: Henry is treasurer of the Greater Oakland Republican Club, according to her LinkedIn profile.
John Haggard: Haggard is the owner of Haggard’s Plumbing and Heating and a veteran of the Vietnam War.
Clifford Frost: A real estate agent, Frost is a member of the Michigan Republican Party State Committee and board member for the Macomb County GOP. In 2018, Frost ran in the primary to represent the 28th District in the Michigan House but lost the race.
Kent Vanderwood: Vanderwood is vice president at the Timothy Group, which advances Christian organizations, and serves as committee chair for the Second District Republican Committee of Michigan.
Stanley Grot: Grot is the Shelby Township clerk and recently ran for the Michigan House but withdrew before the primary. He previously served on the Sterling Heights City Council and as a Macomb County commissioner. He also chairs the 10th District Republican Party. In 2018, he ran for secretary of state but abruptly dropped out of the race, which became the center of an alleged payoff scandal that resulted in Michigan Party Chair Ron Weiser paying a $200,000 state fine for violating campaign finance law.
Marian Sheridan: Sheridan is the director of the Lakes Area Tea Party and co-founder of the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a right-wing group founded by the Maddocks. She serves on the executive board of the Oakland County Republican Party and as grassroots vice chair for the Michigan Republican Party. In February 2021, she asked Republicans to photograph addresses used on some voter registrations, claiming there were “thousands of voters in Wayne County who were not registered at legal addresses.” In 2020, she trained hundreds of poll challengers and joined as plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to uphold the state’s 8 p.m. Election Day deadline for returning absentee ballots.
Timothy King: King sits on the executive committee of the Washtenaw County Republican Party and on the 12th District Republican Committee. In 2020, he unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Washtenaw County Commission.
James Renner: Renner was a precinct delegate in 2020 for Watertown Township.
Michele Lundgren: A photographer from Detroit, Lundgren was elected in 2020 to serve as the Republican delegate for her precinct to the county convention.
Amy Facchinello: Facchinello serves on the school board in Grand Blanc and has been the subject of protests over her QAnon social media posts. Facchinello has refused to resign. She has also been a precinct delegate and served on the executive board of the Genesee County Republican Party.
Ken Thompson: Biographical information for Thompson could not be obtained.
Slated to sign but replaced:
Terri Lynn Land: Land served as Michigan secretary of state as a Republican from 2003 through 2010. In 2014, she lost the U.S. Senate race to Democrat Gary Peters. She also serves on the Wayne State University Board of Governors.
Gerald Wall: Wall has served as the chair of the Roscommon County Republican Party for more than 20 years. An army veteran, Wall worked for General Motors but is now retired, according to his LinkedIn profile.
NEW MEXICO (5)
Jewll Powdrell*: Powdrell is a retired businessman and was managing director at ABQ Sales & Marketing Group, according to his LinkedIn profile. He told the Albuquerque Journal that he has “no regrets, whatsoever” about putting his name on the false elector document. Powdrell, a Black man, said he denounces the Black Lives Matter movement and criticizes politicians who lump Black people into one group.
Deborah W. Maestas*: Maestas is the former chair of the Republican Party of New Mexico. Previously, she served as deputy campaign manager on Allen Weh’s unsuccessful 2014 U.S. Senate campaign and as president of CSI Aviation.
Lupe Garcia: Garcia is a business owner in Albuquerque.
Rosie Tripp: Tripp has served as the national committeewoman for the Republican Party of New Mexico, a former Socorro County commissioner and a former city councilor in Socorro.
Anissa Ford-Tinnin: Ford-Tinnin is the former executive director of the state Republican Party.
Slated to sign but replaced:
Harvey Yates: Yates is the national committeeman for the Republican Party of New Mexico. He served as chair of the party from 2009 to 2010.
NEVADA (6)
Michael J. McDonald*: The chair of the Nevada Republican Party, McDonald is a former member of the Las Vegas City Council.
James DeGraffenreid*: DeGraffenreid has served as vice chairman of the Nevada Republican Party and is president of an insurance company.
Durward James Hindle III: Hindle is vice chair of the Nevada Republican Committee and is a managing partner at Cascade Survey Research, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Jesse Law: Law was recently elected chairman of the Clark County Republican Party and was a staffer on the Trump campaign.
Shawn Meehan: Meehan serves on the board of the Douglas County Republican Party and is founder of the Guard the Constitution Project, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Eileen Rice: Rice serves on the board of the Douglas County Republican Party.
PENNSYLVANIA (20)
Bill Bachenberg*: Bachenberg is the owner of Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays and an NRA board member. He and his wife operate Camp Freedom, a nonprofit that offers shooting experiences for veterans and first responders with disabilities and their families.
Lou Barletta: Barletta recently ran for governor of Pennsylvania. He previously served as a member of the U.S. House, representing Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District from 2011 to 2019, and as mayor of Hazleton from 2000 to 2010.
Tom Carroll: Carroll was recently elected a Northampton County Republican Committee member. He ran for district attorney in Northampton County in 2019 and refused to concede the race, citing “overwhelming irregularities” in how the election was administered. He previously served as assistant district attorney for the county but resigned after a Black colleague reported that he put a stuffed monkey with a shirt reading “Loudmouth” on her keyboard.
Ted Christian: Christian was the Pennsylvania state director for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. He runs the Philadelphia office for lobbying firm Duane Morris Government Strategies.
Chuck Coccodrilli: Coccodrilli was a board member with the Pennsylvania Great Frontier PAC and an advocate and board member at Camp Freedom. He died in October 2021 after an illness.
Bernadette Comfort: Comfort is the vice chairwoman for the Pennsylvania Republican Party. She works for Novak Strategic Advisors and has worked with the party to increase the number of women in decision-making positions. She was also a top aide to former Pennsylvania first lady Michele Ridge in the 1990s.
Sam DeMarco III: DeMarco is the chairman of the Allegheny County Republican Party and an at-large member of the Allegheny County Council. He recently considered running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 17th District but opted out at the last minute. The FBI interviewed him at his home in June and served him a subpoena about his role in the scheme.
Marcela Diaz-Myers: Diaz-Myers is the chairwoman of PA GOP Hispanic Advisory Council.
Christie DiEsposti: DiEsposti is an account representative at Pure Water Technology, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Josephine Ferro: Ferro was elected Monroe County Register of Wills in 2015 and is the former president of the Pennsylvania Federation of Republican Women.
Charlie Gerow: Gerow recently ran for governor of Pennsylvania but lost in the primary. He is a GOP political strategist, the vice chair of the American Conservative Union, and the CEO of Quantum Communications, a Harrisburg-based public relations firm. Last July, he cooperated with a police investigation after he was involved in a fatal crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which he says he did not cause.
Kevin Harley: Harley works with Gerow as managing director of Quantum Communications and has served as a spokesperson for Gerow. He has also worked as press secretary for former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett.
Leah Hoopes: Hoopes is a small business owner and Republican committeewoman for Bethel Township in Delaware County who served as a poll watcher in 2020. She was named as a defendant in a Delaware County voting machine supervisor’s lawsuit alleging that Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that election officials tampered with the election made the supervisor the subject of physical threats.
Ash Khare: An immigrant from India and retired engineer, Khare is active in the Pennsylvania Republican Party and describes himself as a political junkie.
Andre McCoy: McCoy is a director of government affairs with more than 30 years of military service and civilian experience, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Lisa Patton*: Patton was the director of events in Pennsylvania for Trump’s campaign. She was the owner of Twin Ponds Family Recreation Center in Harrisburg, according to her LinkedIn.
Pat Poprik: Poprik is the chair of the Bucks County Republican Committee.
Andy Reilly: Reilly is a national committeeman for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and former secretary for the party. Reilly was previously elected twice to serve as a member of the Delaware County Council. He’s also managing partner at the law firm Swartz Campbell LLC.
Suk Smith: Smith is owner of Patriot Arms Inc., a firearms training center, and Dragons Way School of Kenpo Inc., a martial arts school in Carlisle.
Calvin Tucker: Tucker is deputy chairman and director of engagement and advancement for the Pennsylvania Republican Party. In 2016, he served as a media surrogate and African American adviser to Trump’s campaign.
Slated to sign but replaced:
Robert Asher: Asher has held several positions in the Pennsylvania Republican Party and has held various local elected offices. While chairman of the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania, he was convicted in 1987 of conspiracy and bribery, among other charges, for accepting bribes in exchange for awarding a state contract. He resigned from the position and served one year in federal prison.
Lawrence Tabas: Tabas is chairman of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, longtime general counsel to the party and a well-known Philadelphia elections attorney. Before the 2020 election, Tabas told the Atlantic that he had spoken with the Trump reelection campaign about the possibility that Republican-controlled legislatures could directly appoint electors, but he claimed the comments were taken out of context.
Thomas Marino: Marino was a member of the U.S. House from 2011 until 2019, when he abruptly resigned two weeks into his term. He has also served as U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. In 2017, Trump nominated him to be the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, but he withdrew from consideration after reports that he had crafted a bill that protected pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors and made it harder for the federal government to tackle the opioid crisis.
Lance Stange: Stange works for Novak Strategic Advisors and has served as chairman of the northeast caucus of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania.
Carolyn Welsh: Welsh was the sheriff of Chester County for two decades until 2019 and was one of Trump’s earliest boosters in Pennsylvania, often speaking at his rallies. In March, she entered a no-contest plea to misdemeanor theft charges for allegedly allowing employees to improperly collect comp time, paid for by tax dollars, for volunteering at fundraisers for the office’s K-9 unit. A judge ordered her to pay restitution and a fine.
Christine Toretti: Toretti is the national committeewoman for the Pennsylvania Republican Party and is the former chairman and CEO of S. W. Jack Drilling Co., an oil and gas company involved in fracking.
Robert Gleason: Gleason was formerly the chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. He is a businessman who was appointed by Trump in 2018 to the board of visitors of the U.S. Air Force Academy.
WISCONSIN (10)
Andrew Hitt*: The chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin from 2019 until 2021, Hitt is a partner at consulting and lobbying firm Michael Best Strategies.
Kelly Ruh*: Ruh was an alderperson for De Pere but lost her bid for reelection in April. She has also been chairwoman of the 8th Congressional District Republican Party and a controller for Bay Industries in Green Bay.
Carol Brunner: Brunner is the vice chairwoman of Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District Republican Party.
Edward Scott Grabins: Chairman of the Dane County Republican Party, Grabins is a technology professional, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Bill Feehan: A business manager based in La Crosse, Feehan was a 2012 candidate for District 32 of the Wisconsin state Senate.
Robert F. Spindell Jr.: Spindell has been a commissioner on the Wisconsin Election Commission since 2019 and recently ran to chair the commission and lost. After Biden won the election, Spindell appeared at a “stop the steal” rally at the state Capitol.
Kathy Kiernan: Kiernan is the 5th Congressional District chairman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
Darryl Carlson: Currently executive director of conservative organization No Better Friend Corp., Carlson ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2014 for the Wisconsin State Assembly. He is a veteran and has also represented the 3rd aldermanic district in Sheboygan.
Pam Travis: Travis has served as treasurer of the Wisconsin Federation of Republican Women and is currently the 7th Congressional District vice chairman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
Mary Buestrin: A former national committeewoman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Buestrin says she has done volunteer work supporting Republican candidates for more than 50 years.
Slated to appear but replaced:
Tom Schreibel: Schreibel is a partner at consulting and lobbying firm Michael Best Strategies and a national committeeman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
