ST PAUL, Minn. — The final days of an election tend to feature a few political stunts, but an online ad encouraging people to vote for someone who has died? That's enough to surprise even political professionals.
"I think this is probably unprecedented," said Brian McClung, CEO of Part Street Public Government Relations, and a former Republican campaign manager in Minnesota. "You know, we hear lots of stories in politics about dead people voting in Chicago, and now we have an ad asking people to vote for someone who is dead, and that is really bizarre."
McClung is referring to an ad that he, and other voters in the 2nd Congressional District, are seeing pop up on various local media websites.
It urges people to vote "In Loving Memory" of Paula Overby, who died of heart complications in early October, meaning it was too late to remove her name from the ballot. Overby was running as the Legal Marijuana Now candidate for US House against Democrat Angie Craig and Republican Tyler Kistner.
Although the ad, and it's landing webpage, feature the words Leagalize (sic) Marijuana Now, and encourage people to vote for Overby to "honor her contribution to the cannabis movement." But the message was not the work of Overby's family or the Legal Marijuana Now Party. Instead, it was paid for by the Right Now USA SuperPAC, a right-wing political action committee, which, according to its website, is "focused on electing small-government conservatives up and down the ballot."
"It really does just look like a nasty scheme," McClung said. "It is very clear that their interest is not in supporting legal cannabis. Their interest is in trying to take votes away from Angie Craig and have those votes shift over to somebody that passed away a month ago."
If you're wondering why any group would spend money on such a strategy, McClung says you just need to look back two years. Adam Weeks, the last Legal Marijuana Now candidate in the 2nd District, also died just before the election. Despite his death, he still garnered nearly 6% of the vote in a tight race that Angie Craig won by just two points.
McClung: "This race is probably going to be between one or two percentage points, and I think they figure, 'Hey, if we can move even just a few hundred votes away from Angie Craig, to the late Paula Overby, then that could help the other candidate, the Republican, win.'"
Erdahl: "So what do you make of this?"
McClung: "To me, that is an insane strategy. Look, if you support a candidate for office, or oppose a candidate for office, just tell us that. Do the things that campaigns do and make your case. But trying to get people to vote for somebody who is dead, to try and sway a race, really is probably a new low in Minnesota politics."
But that doesn't mean he believes it will work. McClung says he thinks drawing attention to a candidate who has passed away will only help better inform the public.
"As somebody who has worked in politics for more than two decades, it doesn't seem like a very fruitful strategy," he said. "Most Minnesotans are going to see something like this and be very skeptical of what this organization is trying to do."
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