Reversing damage caused by Citizens United, and campaign finance reform top priorities for Houlahan
Devon, PA — End Citizens United (ECU) today endorsed Chrissy Houlahan for Congress. A veteran, small businesswoman and educator, Chrissy is a fierce advocate for getting Big Money out of politics and has made campaign finance reform a top priority of her campaign.
“Chrissy Houlahan isn’t afraid to take a stand against Big Money and we’re proud to endorse her,” said Tiffany Muller, president and executive director of End Citizens United. “Chrissy understands the corrupting influence of money in politics and has made reform a key part of her candidacy. She knows we can’t fix the broken system without first standing up to the special interests trying to buy our elections. We look forward to working together to unrig the system for everyday Americans in Pennsylvania and around the country.”
“I’m deeply concerned by the increasing influence of secret money in our elections. We need to reform our campaign finance system to increase transparency and regain the public’s trust in our elected officials,” said Chrissy Houlahan. “If elected, one of my first actions in Congress will be to fix this broken campaign finance system and work to undo the damage caused by Citizens United.”
The Republican candidate, Representative Ryan Costello is a staunch defender of the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision. In 2015, he voted to block a constitutional amendment overturning the decision, and he has repeatedly voted against bills that would increase disclosure of corporate spending in politics. Costello also supported a measure that would protect the identities of wealthy, secretive donors who support dark money groups. The bill was heavily supported by the Koch Brothers.
End Citizens United will connect Houlahan’s campaign with its nearly 4,000 members in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional district and activate its 360,000 national donors to help ensure she has the resources to win. In 2016, ECU helped elect campaign finance reform champions New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan and Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, both in battleground states, by exposing their opponents’ ties to special interests. This cycle, with an average donation of $14, ECU has raised almost $2 million for its endorsed candidates.
ECU is a grassroots-funded organization that is dedicated to electing members of Congress who, like Houlahan, will fight to overturn Citizens United and to pass campaign finance reform that will remove unlimited, undisclosed money from our political system. Founded two years ago, today the group has over three million members.
Information on Houlahan, including her answers to the ECU questionnaire, can be found here.
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