By: Tiffany Muller
If there’s anything that unites all Americans right now it’s a belief that our government is broken and big money special interests are to blame. Voters intuitively understand that all of the money spent in politics affects every decision made in Washington, and more often than not, the wealthiest and most powerful end up on top at the expense of the rest of us.
Our broken campaign finance system has been a problem for a long time, but since the 2010 Citizens United decision, it’s gotten exponentially worse. In 2008, before Citizens United, outside spending was about $143 million. Just a few election cycles after the decision, that number ballooned to $1.4 billion, an increase of 900 percent. The end result is that Big Money special interests have outsized influence over the decisions that impact our healthcare, taxes, prescription costs, and just about everything else in our daily lives.
It’s time we unrig this system and restore power in our democracy where it rightfully belongs: with everyday Americans.
As voters cry out for reform, a new class of candidates is responding. In a letter recently sent to Congress, 107 candidates — including 90% of the districts considered “toss up” by political forecasters — called on Congress to make a bold and sweeping reform bill the first item of business in the next Congress. These candidates come from some of the most competitive red, purple, and blue districts in the country. End Citizens United was proud to support the efforts of these candidates and distribute the letter on their behalf. You can read the letter here, or watch this video to see them deliver this message:
The letter was led by Katie Porter (CA-45), Jason Crow (CO-6), Lauren Baer (FL-18), Sharice Davids (KS-3), Elissa Slotkin (MI-8), Dean Phillips (MN-3), Andy Kim (NJ-3), Tom Malinowski (NJ-7), Max Rose (NY-11), Antonio Delgado (NY-19), Colin Allred (TX-32), and Abigail Spanberger (VA-7).
The full list of signers include:
Alyse Galvin (AK-AL), Mallory Hagan (AL-03), Clarke Tucker (AR-02), Ann Kirkpatrick(AZ-02), Anita Malik (AZ-06), Dr. Hiral Tipirneni (AZ-08), Greg Stanton (AZ-09), Jessica Morse (CA-04), Josh Harder (CA-10), TJ Cox (CA-21), Andrew Janz (CA-22), Katie Hill(CA-25), Gil Cisneros (CA-39), Katie Porter (CA-45), Harley Rouda (CA-48), Mike Levin(CA-49), Ammar Campa-Najjar (CA-50), Joe Neguse (CO-02), Diane Mitsch Bush (CO-03), Jason Crow (CO-06), Nancy Soderberg (FL-06), David Shapiro (FL-16), Lauren Baer (FL-18), Mary Barzee Flores (FL-25), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26), Lucy McBath (GA-06), Carolyn Bourdeaux (GA-07), J.D. Scholten (IA-04), Sean Casten (IL-06), Brendan Kelly (IL-12), Betsy Dirksen Londrigan (IL-13), Mel Hall (IN-02), Liz Watson (IN-09), Paul Davis (KS-02), Sharice Davids (KS-03), Jesse Colvin (MD-01), Jared Golden (ME-02), Matt Morgan (MI-01), Rob Davidson (MI-02), Dr. Matt Longjohn (MI-06), Gretchen Driskell (MI-07), Elissa Slotkin (MI-08), Andy Levin (MI-09), Haley Stevens (MI-11), Dan Feehan (MN-01), Angie Craig (MN-02), Dean Phillips(MN-03), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Joe Radinovich (MN-08), Cort VanOstran (MO-02), Kathleen Williams (MT-AL), Dr. Kyle Horton (NC-07), Dan McCready (NC-09), Kathy Manning (NC-13), Kara Eastman (NE-02), Chris Pappas (NH-01), Andy Kim (NJ-03), Josh Welle (NJ-04), Tom Malinowski (NJ-07), Deb Haaland (NM-01), Xochitl Torres Small (NM-02), Susie Lee (NV-03), Steven Horsford (NV-04), Perry Gershon (NY-01), Liuba Grechen Shirley (NY-02), Max Rose (NY-11), Antonio Delgado (NY-19), Tedra Cobb (NY-21), Anthony Brindisi (NY-22), Dana Balter (NY-24), Nate McMurray (NY-27), Aftab Pureval (OH-01), Jill Schiller (OH-02), Ken Harbaugh (OH-07), Theresa Gasper (OH-10), Danny O’Connor (OH-12), Betsy Rader (OH-14), Rick Neal (OH-15), Kendra Horn (OK-05), Scott Wallace (PA-01), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), Susan Wild (PA-07), George Scott (PA-10), Jess King (PA-11), Ron DiNicola (PA-16), Joe Cunningham (SC-01), Jana Lynne Sanchez (TX-06), Lizzie Pannill Fletcher (TX-07), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Joseph Kopser (TX-21), Sri Preston Kulkarni (TX-22), Gina Ortiz Jones (TX-23), Julie Oliver(TX-25), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), MJ Hegar (TX-31), Colin Allred (TX-32), Ben McAdams(UT-04), Elaine Luria (VA-02), Leslie Cockburn (VA-05), Abigail Spanberger (VA-07), Jennifer Wexton (VA-10), Carolyn Long (WA-03), Lisa Brown (WA-05), Dr. Kim Schrier(WA-08), and Dan Kohl (WI-06).