https://archive.ph/NOinX
https://ghostarchive.org/archive/rRSUq
Direct link here.
Much of the article is quoted below, mainly to highlight the named organizations and funders. The shady sequences of events are also worth reading about.
Also, a sort of follow-up article on one of the candidates here (archive here).

Several other unorthodox candidates have emerged across the country—all backed by the same shadowy group, the Patriots Run Project.
For the past year, the group has recruited Trump supporters to run as independent candidates in key swing districts where they could siphon votes from Republicans in races that will help determine which party controls the House next year, an Associated Press review has found. In addition to two races in Iowa, the group recruited candidates in Nebraska, Montana, Virginia and Minnesota. All six recruits described themselves as retired, disabled—or both.
The group’s operation provides few clues about its management, financing or motivation. But interviews, text messages, emails, business filings and other documents reviewed by the AP show that a significant sum has been spent—and some of it traces back to Democratic consulting firms.

As with other recruits, his story begins with Facebook, where the Patriots Run Project operated a series of pro-Trump pages and ran ads [...] while urging conservatives to run in November.

In at least three races, petition signatures to qualify for the ballot were circulated by a Nevada company that works closely with the Democratic consulting firm Sole Strategies, according to documents, including text messages and a draft contract, as well as the firm’s co-founder. In Iowa, a different Democratic firm conducted a poll testing attacks on Nunn, while presenting Wiederien as the true conservative.
Despite the ties to Democratic firms, there is a scant paper trail to determine who is overseeing the effort.
Patriots Run Project is not a registered business in the United States and it is not listed as a nonprofit with the IRS. It has not filed paperwork to form a political committee with the Federal Election Commission. The only concrete identifying detail listed on the group’s website is a P.O. Box inside a UPS store in Washington, D.C.
It’s not the first time Patriots Run Project has drawn attention.
In June, the Center for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based watchdog, issued a report that found the network of Patriots Run Project pages on Facebook were likely controlled by a small number of people, deceiving users and violating Facebook’s policies on “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” The ads also violated the site’s standards because they did not include disclaimers showing who was responsible.
Facebook took down the pages. But by then, the mystery operatives running the group were already working to get recruits on ballots.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, didn’t respond to a request for comment. The company reported receiving $48,000 for the group’s ads.

They urged him to list his affiliation on the ballot as “America First.” They arranged for a firm to gather signatures across the district, which includes Des Moines, its suburbs and rural southern Iowa.
Those signatures were gathered by Common Sense America, a Nevada limited liability company created in February. A company disclosure filing in Colorado, which requires signature gatherers to register, lists a phone number for a co-founder of the Democratic consulting firm, Sole Strategies.
“We work very closely with Common Sense America,” Zee Cohen-Sanchez, the co-founder, said when contacted. Lisa Cohen, the registered agent for Common Sense America who appears to be Cohen-Sanchez’s mother, didn’t return messages.
Sole Strategies has earned nearly $1.8 million over the past four years working primarily for Democratic candidates and causes, including numerous Democratic House members and candidates, records show. [One recruit] Jones said Common Sense America gathered signatures for her campaign.
A draft contract shows the firm was set to receive $3,300 for collecting signatures for Bera in Nebraska. A philanthropist listed on the document as the proposed buyer of those services is Carolyn Cohen of Nyack, New York, a registered Democrat who has a history of supporting liberal causes. “She doesn’t comment on her political donations,” her partner, Larry Miller, said.
Last month, a poll attacked Nunn as soft in his opposition to abortion, terrorists and Democrats — calling him “an errand boy for the uniparty elite”— while painting Wiederien as the pro-Trump conservative in the race.
A spokeswoman for the firm that operated the poll, Dynata, said that its customer was Patinkin Research, which says it “has worked to elect dozens of Democratic candidates.” The spokeswoman later said she identified Patinkin in error and urged AP not to publish its identity. Patinkin’s founder didn’t return messages.