Conservative influencers prep First Amendment defense in Minnesota voter fraud case

Jeff Day, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Nov 11, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — Ahead of a first court appearance in downtown Minneapolis next week on allegations of voter fraud, conservative influencer James O’Keefe has hired attorney and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Madel to represent him.

O’Keefe and fellow conservative influencer Cam Higby face felony charges of identity theft and unlawful voting filed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty last month ahead of the general election.

Higby has hired Minneapolis defense attorney Ryan Garry.

Moriarty accused O’Keefe and Higby of misidentifying themselves to election judges and using other people’s identity in polling places during Minnesota’s primaries in August.

O’Keefe and Higby posted hidden camera videos of their actions online and said they were an indictment of lax voter registration laws in Minnesota. Neither man was given a ballot by election judges.

“James O’Keefe is innocent,” Madel said Tuesday. “These charges are Mary Moriarty’s disgraceful attempt to turn her politics into a criminal conviction.”

Madel added that he plans to argue that the charge violates the First Amendment in the Minnesota and United States Constitution and fits a pattern of selective prosecution by Moriarty.

Garry said Higby’s “alleged criminal conduct” is the exactly what the First Amendment protects. “He never should have been charged in the first place,” Garry said.

O’Keefe has already started a robust defense of his actions online, including posting videos that show him coaching participants in the primary voting videos about how to make sure and not break Minnesota law around voter registration. He then needled Moriarty, dressing as her for Halloween and posting side-by-side photos on social media with the caption, “Who wore it better?”

He also posted on social media about his court date, calling on “all journalists to appear in solidarity with the 1st amendment.”

For all of his social media bluster, O’Keefe has a history of winning court cases related to his actions. In August, a federal appeals court tossed out a $160,000 judgment against O’Keefe for his role in an undercover video sting during the 2016 presidential election.

A federal jury had determined that O’Keefe and his media organization, Project Veritas, committed illegal wiretapping and fraudulent representation and ordered them to pay damages. But the District of Columbia Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals found that O’Keefe was not liable to pay the $160,000 because his actions were protected as free speech.

O’Keefe was later removed as CEO of Project Veritas after the company board alleged that he spent “an excessive amount of donor funds” on personal items.

He now runs the Citizen Justice League, which describes itself as “a network of citizen journalists exposing corruption and demanding accountability for America.” Higby is a political commentator who claims to bring “the truth mainstream media ignores,” and was frequently in the Twin Cities documenting Operation Metro Surge.

Madel, who recently represented a federal public defender that ICE accused of aiding and abetting the arrest of an undocumented immigrant, is no stranger to First Amendment cases in Minnesota. He successfully defended Alpha News against Assistant Minneapolis Police Chief Katie Blackwell after she filed a defamation lawsuit against the news organization last year for their coverage of the murder of George Floyd.

Madel is also no stranger to public spats with Moriarty. This week, he again criticized her for the handling of criminal charges against former state trooper Ryan Londregan for the shooting death of Ricky Cobb on Interstate 94 in 2023. Moriarty charged Londregan with murder, but later dropped the charges after Madel argued that Londregan feared for his partner’s safety before firing the shots that killed Cobb.

O’Keefe and Higby are set to appear in court next Monday.