Details have emerged of late that appear to show that the U.S. Senate candidacy of former Army aviator Mike Durant is being supported by a bipartisan, nationwide organization that actively recruits veterans to run for public office in an effort to combat political divisiveness.
The organization, More Perfect Union, is a self-proclaimed “citizen-led movement” that aims to bring about reform to the American governing process.
More Perfect Union’s founder, Jake Harriman, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and entrepreneur, held a December 8 meeting at a private business in Birmingham to provide an outline of the movement’s political agenda.
Harriman’s career experience and background consists of military service and supporting humanitarian causes. Upon graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, Harriman entered the Marine Corps where he would go on to serve two combat tours in the Iraq War.
According to Harriman’s biographical section on More Perfect Union’s website, after exiting the military, he moved to Kenya and founded humanitarian organization Nuru International in an effort to combat mass poverty and political extremism.
Harriman states that upon returning to the United States from abroad, he found political extremism to be on the rise domestically. To address the issue, he decided to establish More Perfect Union.
According to a source who attended the December 8 meeting, Harriman spoke to a group of around 10 individuals who held ties and interests relating to Christian causes.
The source, who spoke with Yellowhammer News under the condition of anonymity, stated meeting attendees were shown a presentation which touched on Alabama’s 2022 U.S. Senate race. The source told Yellowhammer News that Harriman described Alabama as being the organization’s top target in electing what he referred to as a “fulcrum” of U.S. senators.
The so-called “fulcrum,” according to Harriman, would consist of forming a caucus of centrist, reform-minded senators to arrange a coalition with the likes of U.S. Senators Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and others.
The source described polling data presented by Harriman showing the viability of Durant’s candidacy in Alabama.
Harriman indicated that the More Perfect Union’s political action committee would dedicate $15 million to supporting Durant’s candidacy, with a separate political action committee overseeing the effort.
The goal, Harriman said, would be to support Durant’s candidacy through the Alabama Patriots PAC, which has embarked on an advertising campaign promoting the candidate.
There is no indication as to the contributions of the PAC’s funding since Federal Election Commission (FEC) rules mandate that political action committee contributions must be filed at least on a quarterly basis. The PAC has yet to file a contributions report as the upcoming deadline for the previous quarter’s FEC reports are not due until January 31.
The source told Yellowhammer News that a second meeting took place at the Church of the Highlands’ Grants Mill Campus in Birmingham on December 8 to discuss the same topic.
A recent article published by The Gateway Pundit attacked Durant over More Perfect Union’s support of his candidacy, labeling the candidate as a “trojan horse” who was “waging war on conservatism in Alabama.”
Scott Stone, a spokesman for Durant’s campaign, responded to a series of questions posed by Yellowhammer News by suggesting that those attacking his candidacy are doing so in an attempt to slow his campaign’s momentum.
“This is a ridiculous attack from a bunch of career politicians who haven’t worked a real job a day in their lives,” stated Stone. “Mike Durant is the only outsider in this race, and it’s no surprise that as he is surging and attracting support from grassroots conservatives across the state, the career politicians are desperate to stop him, just like they tried to do to President Trump in 2016. Mike is a 100% Pro-Trump conservative running on the America First agenda who will take on Joe Biden and his pathetic leadership. Anyone who says anything else is lying.”
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
