By: Jessica Estepa
A Democratic political action committee dedicated to pushing big money out of politics unveiled Monday the 20 Republican members of Congress it will target in 2018.
End Citizens United calls them the “Big Money 20,” a group of Republicans who the PAC says have favored special interests over their own constituents, whether through accepting big donations, backing legislation that benefitted their big donors or opposing campaign finance reform.
Here’s who made the list:
- Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas
- Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada
- House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin
- Rep. Mike Bishop of Michigan
- Rep. Rod Blum of Iowa
- Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois
- Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado
- Rep. Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania
- Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey
- Rep. Duncan Hunter of California
- Rep. Will Hurd of Texas
- Rep. Darrell Issa of California
- Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey
- Rep Pat Meehan of Pennsylvania
- Rep. Erik Paulsen of Minnesota
- Rep. Rob Pittenger of North Carolina
- Rep. Dana Rohrbacher of California
- Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois
- Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York
- Rep. Mimi Walters of California
“These are the worst of the worst in Congress,” said Tiffany Muller, the group’s executive director.
The PAC aims to raise and spend $35 million on these re-election races in the 2018 election cycle, a surge of $10 million more than the $25 million spent during 2016.
Most of these incumbents are facing tough re-elections battles, but neither Cruz nor Ryan is considered particularly vulnerable by most independent analysts.
Since it operates as a traditional political action committee, that means End Citizen’s United doesn’t accept donations larger than $5,000. Its big fundraising goal depends on the smaller donations of its more than 3 million members.
That plays into its message that people want to change the system — a message that resonates not only with Democratic voters, but independents as well.
Pollster Al Quinlan noted that reducing special interest money in politics is a top priority for independent voters, ranking under only protecting America from terrorism and job creation.
Additionally, research shows that the big money in politics message works at the congressional campaign level. Quinlan pointed to the 2016 Nevada Senate race between then-Rep. Joe Heck, a Republican, and former state attorney general Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat.
The group tested two different messages: conventional Democratic messaging vs. campaign finance reform messaging. The conventional messages made independents and unaffiliated voters less likely to support Cortez Masto, while the reform messaging swung that same bloc in her favor.
That’s what the political action committee wants to replicate heading into 2018, Muller said.
“We’re going to use all our resources,” she said.