Diversity and inclusion are core values at End Citizens United. We strive to build a culture that welcomes, encourages, and supports the diversity of our employees. Our staff must reflect the diversity of our democracy to be effective in our goal of reforming the broken campaign finance system and protecting the right to vote. These principles drive us and encourage us to do better.

Meet Our Team

Tiffany Muller

President

Tiffany Muller is the President of End Citizens United, Let America Vote, and the End Citizens United/Let America Vote Action Fund.

Since joining ECU, Tiffany has helped grow the group from a start-up to a nationwide organization with more than 4 million members and 1 million grassroots donors. Since its founding in 2015, ECU has raised over $200 million to help protect and strengthen democracy and has helped elect more than 600 democracy champions. Under her leadership, the group has made protecting the voice and vote of every American a national priority, which led to the introduction of the most significant anti-corruption and voting rights legislation in generations. Signifying its top priority status, the bill was designated H.R. 1 and S. 1, passed the U.S. House of Representatives, and received majority support in the U.S. Senate. Tiffany was named to Washingtonian’s list of the Most Influential People in Washington.

Tiffany began her career in government and politics when she became the first openly gay public official in Kansas in 2004 as a member of the Topeka City Council. There she led successful efforts to expand anti-discrimination protections.

She has been described as a “force of nature” and a “high-quality leader” who can “grasp the responsibility to a larger cause.”

Abe Rakov

Executive Director

Abe Rakov is the Executive Director of End Citizens United and co-founder of Let America Vote. He has over 17 years of political experience leading local, state, and federal campaigns, served as a non-profit consultant, and has held executive roles in state and federal government. 

Abe was a senior advisor on Beto O'Rourke's presidential campaign and was Jason Kander's campaign manager for both his 2016 U.S. Senate race and 2012 Secretary of State campaign. He also worked as the Chief Impact Officer at Run for Something. On the government side, Abe served as the Missouri Deputy Secretary of State and had two stints on Capitol Hill: as the Democratic Staff Director of the Joint Economic Committee and Communications Director for Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

He received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. Abe lives with his husband Jake and their rescue dog Kip in Studio City, CA.

Sarah Benzing

Executive Vice President of Political

Sarah Benzing has served as a Chief of Staff on both sides of the Capitol, a Campaign Manager on high-profile U.S. Senate and House races, and a senior staffer on presidential campaigns and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. She previously served as Senator Brown’s Chief of Staff for nine years.

Mark Andrews

Vice President of Operations

Mark Andrews is the Vice President of Operations at End Citizens United. Mark comes to ECU with a background in compliance working with campaigns, PACs, and labor unions. He has also worked in property management and accounting.

Amanda Crumley

Vice President of Communication

Amanda Crumley is a seasoned Democratic political strategist and communications expert with over 32 years of experience spanning government, electoral politics, advocacy, entertainment, and business. As the founder and president of Crumley Communications, LLC, she has advised numerous high-profile clients across a broad spectrum of industries helping them craft compelling narratives, raise profiles, and navigate complex media landscapes for twenty years.

Farah Melendez

Vice President of State campaigns

Farah Melendez is a national political operative who most recently served on the senior staff of the Harris-Walz campaign as Surge States Director, leading a team that mobilized 30,000 voters in the general election. She has managed and advised more than three dozen campaigns across the country, overseeing political advertising spending and strategy, budgets, consultant teams, and winning independent expenditure (IE) and 501(c)4 programs.

Justin Unga

Vice President of Public Affairs

Justin Unga is a DC-based political strategist with 20 years of experience leading successful legislative efforts and electoral campaigns. Unga previously served as Vice President of Policy and Political Affairs for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) where he helped pass historic pro-equality reforms like the Virginia Values Act and the national Respect for Marriage Act.

Emily Frost

Emily Frost is the National Organizing Director at End Citizens United. Prior to joining the End Citizens United team, Emily led States Distributed Organizing at Harris for President. She has also held roles at the Democratic National Committee and served as Digital Organizing Director at Biden for President.

Bawadden Sayed

Communications Director

Bawadden Sayed is the Deputy Communications Director at End Citizens United. His background in progressive politics began in field, working on the 2014 gubernatorial race in Maine. Prior to joining the team at ECU, Bawadden was a legislative intern on Capitol Hill in Senator Angus King’s office.

Laura Zamora

Assistant Director of People & Culture

Prior to joining ECU, Laura Zamora owned talent acquisition, employee engagement, and organizational development initiatives at The Impact Project as their People and Culture Manager. Laura previously served as Senior Manager of People and Operations at City Year Miami, where she led efforts to optimize organizational processes related to staff experience, professional development, and internal communications.

Sam Amofah

Operations Coordinator

Prior to ECU, Sam Amofah worked as a QA Analyst at Presidio and also gained valuable experience in property management with The Bozzuto Group and Equity Residential.

Anatolia Hodson

Deputy Digital Director

Anatolia Hodson is the Deputy Digital Director for End Citizens United. Before joining the ECU team, she helped develop content as a digital strategist for the DCCC IE and Kinetic Strategies. She previously worked in political for Amy Klobuchar’s primary campaign and in organizing for NextGen Virginia.

Justin Gibbs-Poe

Digital and Communications Coordinator

Justin Gibbs-Poe is the Digital/Communications Coordinator at End Citizens United and Let America Vote. Before ECU, he was an organizer in Atlanta working with mutual aid organizations, local campaigns, and nonprofits helping with communications, voter registration, and digital content creation.

Alex Won

Partnerships Manager

Alex Won was the AAPI Coalitions Director for the DNC during the 2024. Prior to joining the DNC, Alex worked as an Outreach Manager at Foreign Policy for America where he worked with former Ambassadors, Diplomats, and Foreign Policy experts to curate programming for FP4A’s Leadership Circle members. Previously, Alex worked at Indivisible as their Major Gifts Manager and at People for the American Way as their Major Gifts Associate.

Kolby Lee

Press Secretary

Kolby Lee is the Press Secretary at End Citizens United. Prior to joining the ECU team, Kolby ran Kolby Lee Communications LLC, where he specialized in building, managing, and advising public affairs campaigns for political candidates, national advocacy organizations, and private sector clients. He also served as Principal at New Deal Strategies and Campaign Spokesperson & Press Secretary for Southern States for the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.

Maddie Beckenholdt

Deputy Development Director

Maddie Beckenholdt is the Deputy Development Director at End Citizens United. Before joining ECU, Maddie was the Deputy Finance Director for Amy McGrath’s congressional campaign, the Finance Director for Josh Butner’s congressional campaign, and an intern with the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.

Dalit Kluger

EVENTS MANAGER

Dalit Kluger is the Executive Coordinator at End Citizens United. Prior to joining ECU, Dalit was the Operations Director for Scott Sifton’s U.S. Senate Race in Missouri. During the 2020 election, she was a Field Organizer for the Iowa Coordinated Campaign.

Marisa Shea

Deputy Legislative Director

Marisa Shea is a lawyer with over a decade of experience advocating for legislative and policy reform at the state and federal level. Prior to joining the End Citizens United team, Marisa was working on tech accountability and reform across multiple state houses. She also spent several years serving as policy committee staff for both the California Senate Human Services and Judiciary Committees.

My'Asia Davis

Political Assistant

My'Asia Davis is originally from South Carolina and moved to Georgia with her family at age 14. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Savannah State University and is currently pursuing her Master of Public Policy. A dedicated member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., she has built a career in public service, gaining valuable experience as a legislative intern on Capitol Hill for Senator Raphael Warnock, working on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives for the City of Savannah, and contributing to political strategy and operations at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). In her free time, when she’s not researching, you can find her shopping, traveling, discovering new restaurants, and practicing yoga for balance and relaxation.

Clarissa Joyce

Organizing Manager

Clarissa Joyce is the Organizing Manager at End Citizens United. She began her career in progressive politics in 2016 as an organizer for Gov. Steve Bullock’s re-election campaign. Most recently, she served as the Organizing Manager and Distributed Director for the 2024 North Carolina Coordinated Campaign.

Lamisa Hasan

Organizing Manager

Lamisa Hasan is the Organizing Manager at End Citizens United. She has experience in strengthening grassroots power and expanding voter access. With a strong foundation in community organizing, she has most recently led national digital engagement and training initiatives for the League of Women Voters of the United States. 

Emily Han

Press Assistant

Emily Han is the Press Assistant at End Citizens United. Before joining the ECU team, she was a fellow at the Democratic fundraising firm The Strathdee Group. Her experiences also include public policy research with DB3, a press internship for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and several other internships in government and political advocacy. Originally from California, Emily graduates from Georgetown University in 2025 with a Bachelor’s in Government and Economics. She enjoys being a foodie in DC, seeing live music, and protecting her three-year Duolingo streak.

Meaghan Winter

Editorial Director

Meaghan Winter is Editorial Director at End Citizens United. Meaghan previously was a journalist and magazine writer who covered reproductive healthcare and rights, climate policy, and democracy. She has held communications, research, and editorial roles for a wide range of progressive advocates and organizations, and she has taught at Columbia University, The New School, and Baruch College. Meaghan is also author of All Politics is Local: Why Progressives Must Fight for the States. 

Meet Our Board of Directors

Ron Barber

Congressman Ron Barber represented Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District from 2011–2014 — a diverse swath of historic Southeastern Arizona that includes communities as disparate as Tucson, where cutting-edge technology is being developed, and Tombstone, where the echoes of the Gunfight at the OK Corral live on. Rep. Barber served on the Committee on Homeland Security and the House Armed Services Committee. Additionally, he served on the Committee on Small Business and the Bipartisan Working Group. Before becoming a member of Congress, Barber had a 32-year career with the Division of Developmental Disabilities in the Arizona Department of Economic Security, eventually serving as its director. Rep. Barber and his wife also ran a small business in Tucson for 22 years. In 2007, Rep. Barber was appointed Representative Gabrielle Giffords’ seat after she resigned to focus on her recovery from an attempted assassination.

Lanae Erickson

Lanae Erickson loves working on the hardest and most divisive subjects, and as Senior Vice President for Social Policy & Politics at Third Way, she does just that, tackling hot-button issues like immigration, abortion, religious liberty, and guns, as well as helping to drive crucial policy conversations like how we can ensure our higher education system is delivering for students.

Previously, Lanae served as a member of President Obama’s third Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. She was also Legislative Counsel at Alliance for Justice, where she investigated the backgrounds of federal judicial nominees on civil and human rights and advocated for progressive policies on issues from detention and interrogation policy to equal pay. Before that, she was a “real” lawyer at the Legal Rights Center and the Center for Victims of Torture.

Lanae’s commentary has been featured in a variety of news outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, Politico, The New Yorker, and PBS News Hour. She has also appeared on NPR, Fox News, CSPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, Bloomberg Television, Air America, and Minnesota Public Radio.

She earned her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota, and her Bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College. Originally from the beautiful Land of 10,000 Lakes (which actually has significantly more than 10,000 lakes), Lanae is now a proud Washingtonian.

Karen Finney

A leading Democratic strategist and Political Commentator for CNN, Karen Finney is an independent consultant working with political and corporate clients on crisis communications, branding, public affairs, polling and strategy. She was a Senior Advisor to Stacey Abrams’ Gubernatorial campaign, the Democratic National Committee and AL Media in the 2018 election cycle. Finney served as Senior Advisor for Communications and Political Outreach and Senior Spokesperson for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

From her experience working in media, national politics, political and communications strategy in both the public and private sectors, Finney brings a unique perspective to her work. She was a political analyst and hosted her own show on MSNBC, “Disrupt with Karen Finney,”.  Her experience includes work on four presidential campaigns, both the President and First Lady during the Clinton Administration, and she was the Democratic National Committee’s first African American spokeswoman, helping to lead the DNC’s communications strategy for the “50 State Strategy,” successful 2006 Congressional elections and 2008 presidential campaign.  A former Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, Finney current serves as Board Vice Chair for NARAL pro-choice America, Board Chair at Ultraviolet and a co-founder Power Rising.  Finney is also a Terker Fellow at George Washington University’s School of Journalism and Public Affairs.

Christopher Massicotte

Chris Massicotte has been passionate about providing Democratic campaigns and progressive causes with the most effective and innovative technology for years. Prior to his current role as DSPolitical’s chief operating officer, Massicotte served as vice president of sales and marketing at NGP VAN Inc., the largest political technology company serving Democratic candidates and their progressive allies. Massicotte has also worked on a variety of Democratic campaigns, serving for a time as finance director to Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ). He is also an outspoken supporter of LGBT equality and works closely with a number of organizations including the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, where he is currently Eastern Caucus Chair. Massicotte is a graduate of Villanova University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and The University of Pennsylvania with a master’s degree in government administration.

Matt Morrison

Matt Morrison is the executive director of Working America, a three-million-member labor organization mobilizing working people who don’t have the benefit of a union at their jobs. He is a leading political practitioner with experience working in over 500 elections throughout his career. Most recently, Working America has achieved a 76 percent win rate in the 87 competitive elections it has worked in since November 2016.

In his earlier role as Working America’s political director, Morrison led the refinement of the organization’s field and member communications programs through the use of clinical testing and advanced analytics. Under his direction, Working America combines innovative integration of traditional field organizing with analytics to increase targeting accuracy and voter turnout for candidates who support a fair economy for working-class Americans.

Prior to joining Working America, Morrison served on John Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign, in the government affairs depaAbe Rakovrtment of the American Federation of Teachers and on Capitol Hill in the office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

He holds undergraduate and law degrees from Washington University in St. Louis.

Bill Smith

Bill Smith is a founding partner of Civitas Public Affairs Group. He has over two decades of experience in campaign management, message research and development, strategic planning, and movement building. He currently advises philanthropists, foundations, and donor collaboratives on a wide range of policy objectives, as well as national nonprofit organizations seeking to advance progressive policies at the state and federal levels.

Prior to starting Civitas, Bill served as the National Political Director for Gill Action, working across the country to secure marriage equality and other key policy wins by building political power for the LGBT community. He counseled a network of donors that invested nearly $15 million into targeted campaigns supporting the freedom to marry and LGBT equality, including nearly 200 successful elections across the country.

Bill has worked extensively as a general consultant, providing critical counsel to elected officials, political organizations, and social movement organizations. He previously worked as a political operative for Karl Rove + Company and Wilson Grand Communications. He has led teams of the nation’s premier pollsters, media consultants, and campaign operatives on both sides of the aisle.

Bill also serves on the boards of Faith in Public Life Action Fund and the Reconciling Ministries Network. A native of Alabama, Bill resides in Washington, D.C.

Jessica Vanden Berg

Jessica Vanden Berg is an Ambassador for the New Leaders Council, a member of the American Council on Germany, and a partner with the Truman National Security Project. Ms. Vanden Berg is a founder of Maverick Strategy and Mail and has worked both domestically and abroad advising corporate clients, political and advocacy campaigns, as well as independent expenditures on strategic communications, grassroots and grass tops outreach, management, targeting, planning, and budgeting. In addition to her work, she worked for the ONE Campaign as the Democratic campaign manager for the ONE Vote ’08 Presidential Initiative. The campaign used technology, press, and grassroots support to push the presidential candidate to support real measures in dealing with global poverty and health. She managed staff throughout the country, and was able to persuade the candidates to guarantee real commitments to saving lives.

Meet Our Fellows

Jon Tester

U.S. Senator, Montana

Jon Tester has been at the forefront of the fight to rein in Big Money in politics and increase transparency in elections. As Senator, he introduced bills to shine a light on the secret, untraceable money funding our elections; put forth a constitutional amendment that strikes at the heart of Citizens United by declaring that corporations are not people; and, most recently, led the fight in the Senate to pass the Freedom to Vote Act. In 2018, Tester’s bipartisan bill, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, was signed into law. The bill brought archaic Senate rules into the 21st century by requiring Senate candidates to electronically file campaign finance reports and was estimated to save taxpayers $900,000 annually.

Jon Tester is also the co-host of Grounded and a political analyst for MSNBC.

Ellen Weintraub

FEC COmmissioner

Ellen L. Weintraub is a fierce anti-corruption advocate and a national expert in campaign finance and government ethics law. A Commissioner and four-time Chair of the Federal Election Commission, she served from December 2002 to February 2025, having been confirmed unanimously by the United State Senate.

During her tenure, Ellen championed meaningful campaign-finance law enforcement and robust disclosure and strove to combat “dark money” and foreign influence in our elections. She believes that effective and fair regulation of money in politics is important to prevent corruption and restore the trust of the American people in our democracy and was not afraid to call out her colleagues on the Commission when she felt it failed to do its job for the American public. She has been an outspoken critic of the system that gives disproportionate influence to billionaire donors and has been a consistent voice refuting unfounded claims of voter fraud. On February 6, 2025, she received a letter from the President removing her from her position on the Commission without cause.

Ellen began her distinguished career in public service as Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee, where she rewrote the House Ethics Manual, often led the Committee’s public education and compliance initiatives, and was a trusted advisor to Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.Prior to her appointment to the FEC, Ellen was Of Counsel to the Political Law Group of Perkins Coie LLP, where she counseled public and private sector clients on government ethics, campaign finance and election law, lobbying regulation, and non-profit law.

Ellen has published articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and leading law reviews and is a frequent speaker on news shows and at conferences at home and abroad. She has participated in election-observation missions around the world. Ellen hails from New York and holds degrees from Yale College and Harvard Law School.