Less than a month before Election Day, McAuliffe's campaign spent $53,680 on the services of the Elias Law Group, a firm that Marc Elias started earlier this year, Fox News previously reported. Elias had formerly worked as a partner at the law firm Perkins Coie, which the
Crooked HillaryClinton
...former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world,usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away. Politix is not one of her talents, but it's something she keeps trying to do...
campaign hired in 2016 in order to conduct opposition research on Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
— research that included the infamous
Elias has represented Democrats in efforts to contest elections. Going into the 2020 election, he represented Democrats challenging a Texas law barring "straight-ticket voting."
House Republicans accused Elias of having a "serious conflict of interest" when he represented Iowa Democratic candidate Rita Hart in her effort to overturn the results of her extremely narrow loss to Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. GOP members House Administration Committee said that Elias had a conflict because he and Perkins Coie — where he still worked at the time — also represented half of the Democratic committee members who would be deciding the case.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley wrote that McAuliffe hiring Elias is an "astonishing move."
"There are a host of election lawyers but McAuliffe selected an attorney accused of lying to the media, advancing rejected conspiracy theories, and currently involved in a major federal investigation that has already led to the indictment of his former partner," Turley wrote.
"McAuliffe may be preparing to challenge any win by Republican Glenn Youngkin," he wrote on Twitter.