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NY Congress hopeful Mondaire Jones once accused of stealing Stanford student election — despite regularly condemning Trump’s effort to overturn 2020 election

ny-congress-hopeful-mondaire-jones-once-accused-of-stealing-stanford-student-election-—-despite-regularly-condemning-trump’s-effort-to-overturn-2020-election
NY Congress hopeful Mondaire Jones once accused of stealing Stanford student election — despite regularly condemning Trump’s effort to overturn 2020 election
Supporters of President Donald Trump holding signs claiming a stolen election outside the Philadelphia Convention Center, awaiting election tabulation results on Nov. 6, 2020.
Supporters of President Donald Trump holding signs claiming a stolen election outside the Philadelphia Convention Center, awaiting election tabulation results on Nov. 6, 2020. AP

One-time progressive Rep. Mondaire Jones has regularly condemned former President Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, but Jones was once himself accused of stealing an election — when he was an undergraduate at Stanford University.

In 2007, Jones ran for vice president of the student government. Jones and his running mate, Hershey Avula, squeaked by their top rivals by just 38 votes, one of the closest elections in memory, The Stanford Daily reported at the time.

While the student body constitution specifically called for a runoff election, Jones was concerned he would not be able to replicate high turnout among graduate students a second time around.

Mondaire Jones standing at a podium with a microphone during a press conference at the Rockland Democrats Campaign Headquarters

Mondaire Jones was once accused of stealing a student government election at Stanford. John Meore/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK

“Grad student turnout would be atrocious were they to have another election,”Jones told The Stanford Daily at the time. “This is a time for mending, not for increased polarization.”

While the elections commissioner, Bernard Fraga, said the constitution required a runoff, the Undergraduate Senate and Graduate Student Council voted 12-1 against holding one — coronating Avula/Jones as winners.

Three senators later told The Stanford Daily that they had been “pressured” by Avula and Jones to nix the runoff, actions which they called “unethical.”

The move also earned a rebuke from the editorial board of the Stanford Daily.

“We owe it to all slates to declare a new campaign period and hold a runoff election,” the paper wrote. “The call for a runoff vote, as recommended by unbiased and principled Elections Commissioner Fraga, is not about one slate or another. It is about fairness.”

The Hoover Tower at Stanford University in California, indicating the University's successful fundraising efforts in 2022.

Mondaire and his pals managed to shut down a runoff election, earning a rebuke from the Stanford Daily editorial board. Bloomberg via Getty Images

President Donald Trump arriving to speak at a rally, standing in front of a row of flags, on January 6, 2021 in Washington

Mondaire Jones has often attacked Trump for his actions on Jan 6. AP

Avula and Jones faced allegations two years later of improperly spending $13,000 government funds on food and gas, though an investigation into the matter was inconclusive, according to The Stanford Review.

Reached by phone Fraga disputed that the election had been stolen, and called the issue a “technicality.”

Jones, a former upstate congressman, is currently locked in a tight race against GOP Rep. Mike Lawler in New York’s 17th district, which includes Rockland and Putnam Counties and parts of Westchester and Dutchess.

“These allegations aren’t true, obviously, but, as we know, MAGA Republicans claim every election they lose is stolen,” a rep for Jones said in a statement. 

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