Congressional Challenger Uses Tinder For Voter Outreach: Report

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — One Democratic congressional underdog has employed a new technique when it comes to voter outreach — leading people on.

Suraj Patel, 34, has instructed campaign volunteers to create fake profiles on dating apps such as Tinder, Grindr and Bumble using photos of "stock hotties" to draw in unsuspecting voters and ambush them with information about New York's June 26 congressional primary election, the New York Times first reported. Patel's campaign calls the technique "Tinder banking," according to the report.

A campaign handout titled "Tinder banking 101" instructs volunteers to "keep the mood generally light-hearted and flirty" while boasting the hashtags "VoteJune26" and "TeamSuraj" in their dating profiles. The goal is to swipe right on as many potential voters as possible and to encourage turnout in Tuesday's election, according to the handout.

The upstart candidate told the Times that the technique is " kinda like catfishing, but you are telling people who you are." His favorite political pick-up line: "Are you into civic engagement?"

The Times article profiled Patel as well as other young Democratic challengers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Adem Bunkeddeko.

Many online dating apps such as Tinder prohibit creating fake accounts or impersonating others. "Don’t be fake. Be real instead. Soliciting other users is prohibited on Tinder," Tinder's community guidelines reads.

Patel, 34, is a former Barack Obama campaign staffer who is also the president of the Indiana-based Sun Group of Companies, which oversees a network of hotels in 14 states. He's challenging 13-term incumbent Carolyn Maloney in New York's 12th Congressional District, which spans much of the east side of Manhattan and parts of Queens and Brooklyn.

The challenger made some noise during the election cycle by raising an impressive $1.2 million despite an attempt to unseat an incumbent in a heavily Democratic district, but it turns out he may have spent some of that money inappropriately. Patel has spent all but $40,000 of his fundraising haul, but the Post, citing a a campaign expert, reported that about $200,000 of the cash was intended for the general election and is not legally available for use during the primary under federal election law.

Patel's campaign insists that is complying with, not skirting, election law.

"The campaign is ensuring that primary expenses are covered with primary funds. When we file our next FEC report, that will be clear," Sam Haass, Patel's campaign manager, told the Post.

Read the full New York Times article here.

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