Press Releases

107 House Candidates Send Message to Congress: Make Reform the First Item on the Agenda in 2019

Oct 04, 2018

Polling shows public trust in government is at an all-time low with much of the blame going to politicians and special interest money

Passing a sweeping reform package will help restore trust and ensure lawmakers put the people’s interests first when addressing other issues including health care and economy

A coalition of 107 Democratic House challengers today sent a letter to Congress addressed to the House of Representatives calling for a government and election reform bill to be the first item on the agenda for the 116th Congress. The candidates are running in races that range from ruby red to bright blue districts. The letter is signed by 76 percent of candidates running in the most competitive races in the country as determined by The Cook Political Report.

You can read the full text of the letter here.

Restoring faith in our elections and in the integrity of our elected officials should be a top priority that all members of Congress can agree upon. Without these reforms we will be unable to truly regain the public’s trust or tackle the challenges of our day, like the costs of health care and prescription drugs, the opioid epidemic, or building an economy that is strong for working families.

For those reasons, these reforms must be sweeping, and they must be bold. They must be the very first item Congress addresses. We must not yield on this demand, the American public is counting on us.

The letter was led by: Katie Porter (CA-45), Jason Crow (CO-06), Lauren Baer (FL-18),Sharice Davids (KS-03), Elissa Slotkin (MI-08), Dean Phillips (MN-03), Andy Kim (NJ-03), Tom Malinowski (NJ-07), Max Rose (NY-11), Antonio Delgado (NY-19), Colin Allred (TX-32), and Abigail Spanberger (VA-07).

Key elements of the bill would include: reforming the role of money in politics to ensure more transparency and accountability in elections, eliminating foreign money from our political system, limiting the undue influence of mega donors and special interests, and incentivizing small dollar donors; as well as lobbying reform, ethics reform, redistricting reform, and voting rights reform.

“This is a new class of candidates like we’ve never seen – many of whom have never run for office before – and they are sending a message to Congress that once they’re elected, they are going to take on the rigged system,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United. “Over the past eighteen months, these candidates have been running on reform, and this letter is the latest culmination of that movement. End Citizens United is proud to have endorsed every candidate who signed this letter, and we look forward to working with them to help pass meaningful reforms that clears the way for Congress to do the people’s business.”

In the 2018 cycle, a wave of reformers have been running on a platform to unrig the system, with many rejecting corporate PAC money, highlighting reform in their paid communications and releasing bold reform agendas. Their message has been amplified as high-profile scandals, indictments, guilty pleas, and convictions continue to pile up in the Republican party, adding to an environment where faith in government is already at a historic low. A bipartisan poll conducted by the George W. Bush Institute, the University of Pennsylvania’s Biden Center and Freedom House shows that money in politics is one of the top reasons people believe the government does not represent them.

End Citizens United, a grassroots group dedicated to ending the rigged system in Washington, is working to help elect candidates who will fight to get Big Money out of politics. The group, and its 4 million members, are also pressuring Congress to act on reform.

The full list of all 107 candidates who signed the letter 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).

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