The Bulwark investigated a "random internet stranger" fielded as a third-party candidate in a swing House seat in Michigan, and what they found was deeply suspicious.
The seat is currently occupied by GOP Rep. Tom Barrett, and to challenge him, Democrats have nominated William Lawrence, the progressive founder of the climate action group Sunrise Movement. But there's another candidate out there: Shane Dedrick of the Green Party.
"Dedrick has almost no digital footprint," wrote The Bulwark's Brendan Hartnett and Sam Stein, but the credentials he does have "[don’t] give any indication that he is the type of earthy environmentalist that typically runs under the Green Party banner ... if anything, the online breadcrumbs suggest a real possibility that Dedrick may be a Republican plant."
For one thing, said the report, Dedrick made a pair of campaign donations in 2023 to Perry Johnson, a Republican running a backbench presidential campaign. Meanwhile, "Dedrick’s Facebook page follows three accounts, one of which belongs to Mick Bricker, who ran in the 2022 Republican primary for Michigan’s 88th House District and whose profile picture shows him standing next to a smiling Donald Trump."
Furthermore, Dedrick's account on X "follows only four other accounts, none of which are the Green Party or anyone associated with it. One of the four, however, is Parker Maddock, a young conservative activist in the state, who follows Dedrick back." Maddock's mother is a former Michigan GOP co-chair who was prosecuted, but not convicted, for being a "fake elector" in 2020 trying to overturn former President Joe Biden's win in the state.
Per the reporting, Dedrick won the nomination through the Michigan Green Party's convention hosted over Zoom. During that time, he kept his camera off, admitted he wasn't a member of the Green Party, but said he cared about the environment because of the “crazy, crazy weather over the last few years,” like “tornadoes and some of the worst winters.”
A man on the Zoom call did express concerns, saying, “I think this whole procedure is kind of rushed and hurried. It opens the door to having people come in and tell us all the things we want to hear, and then they turn out to be MAGA, and they trash our party. They trash us.” But no one raised serious alarms about Dedrick, and after quickly scanning his social profile, they nominated him.
Douglas Marsh, the communications chief for the Michigan Green Party, vehemently denied his party is a spoiler, but acknowledged, “There’s some possibility that [Dedrick's] a Republican plant,” and if this is proven, the party will "probably" disavow him.