Catherine Renee Engelbrecht is the American co-founder of True the Vote and King Street Patriots, a nonprofit

Tea Party A tea party is a social gathering event, typically held in the afternoon, featuring the consumption of tea and light refreshments. Social tea drinking rituals are observed in many cultures worldwide, both historically and in the present day. A ...

organization which is active mostly in Texas.Stephanie Saul. September 16, 2012
Looking, Very Closely, for Voter Fraud
''The New York Times.'' Retrieved: May 24, 2013. She is also the co-founder of "The Freedom Hospital" with Gregg Phillips, and the CFO of CoverMe Services Inc, one of his companies. The company was formerly known as AutoGov, Inc.

Education

Engelbrecht has a bachelor's degree in marketing from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

.
Catherine Engelbrecht Founder and President, True the Vote
', September 2021, Village Republican Women.

Career and politics

Engelbrecht was a small business owner and a

parent–teacher association A parent–teacher association/organization (PTA/PTO), parent–teacher–friend association (PTFA), is a formal organization comprising parents, teachers and staff that is intended to facilitate parental participation in a school. A parent–te ...

volunteer until

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

won the

2008 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John Mc ...

. In 2008, after volunteering at the election, Engelbrecht began sharing her opinions about the US voting system, catching the attention of the

Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2007, catapulted into the mainstream by Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign. The movement expanded in resp ...

. In 2009, Engelbrecht founded the King Street Patriots, naming the organization after the 1770 Boston Massacre. Several members of the King Street Patriots, including Engelbrecht, its president, were dissatisfied with the voting process in

Harris County, Texas Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, and was estimated to be 5,009,302 in 2024, making it the List of counties in Texas, most populous cou ...

, during the

2008 United States Presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John Mc ...

, especially the shortage of poll workers, which they believed "invited fraud and other problems at the polls." Later in 2009, Engelbrecht co-founded True the Vote. ''Politico'' named Engelbrecht as "one of the 50 political figures to watch" in 2012. In 2018, Phillips renamed AutoGov, Inc. to CoverMe Services Inc. with himself as CEO and Catherine Engelbrecht as CFO. CoverMe claimed that “in the span of a five-minute interview, hospitals can provide patients with real-time eligibility and enrollment support, creating better outcomes for both the patient and provider.” It made $1.7 million charging services to University of Mississippi Medical Center for work through 2023

Controversies

On June 5, 2022, Gregg Phillips had announced on

Truth Social Truth Social (stylized as TRUTH) is an alt-tech social media platform owned by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), an American media and technology company majority-owned by U.S. president Donald Trump. It has been called a "Twitter clone" ...

that he had begun a nonprofit under the name "The Freedom Project" and began soliciting donations to raise $25 million dollars for a mobile hospital in Ukraine in response to the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

. He claimed to have already raised half the amount needed due to an in-kind donation from manufacturer MED-1 Partners, but MED-1's CEO Tim Masud denied making a pledge or offer of any such donation. Additionally, "The Freedom Hospital", of which Engelbrecht was co-founder, posted a video on its YouTube account with a caption saying that its team was reporting from Ukraine. The Freedom Hospital had no role in producing the video, and Christopher Loverro, a Los Angeles-based actor and veteran, who made the video in front of a recently bombed Ukrainian preschool, said he never had any connection to The Freedom Hospital and had not given anyone permission to use his work. Loverro said he reported the video to YouTube and commented on the post, warning: "This is a scam. Do not donate to this organization." The hospitals in Ukraine never materialized, and Phillips abandoned the project earlier in April 2022, months before making the fundraising posts on TruthSocial, according to his attorney. True the Vote was listed as the fiscal sponsor on the website, which has since been deleted. In October 2022, Engelbrecht, and True the Vote former board member Gregg Phillips, were jailed for

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the co ...

after refusing to name the person who allegedly gave them information about election logistics software company Konnech. Konnech was litigating for defamation damages after being accused of rigging the

2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

. Both were held in Joe Corley Detention Facility in Conroe, Texas. In February 2024, True the Vote told a Georgia judge that it has no evidence to support its claims of illegal ballot stuffing in Atlanta during the 2020 general election and a runoff two months later.

Personal life

Engelbrecht is a mother of two children, a Christian by affiliation, and was aged 52 in 2022. She lives in Cat Springs, Texas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Engelbrecht, Catherine Living people American women founders American organization founders University of Houston alumni People from Austin County, Texas Year of birth missing (living people)