“If we flip the House, the first bill should be campaign finance reform,” Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) said in her face-off with Rep. Bishop, one of many examples of candidates highlighting their reform credentials during their general election debates. In Illinois, Brendan Kelly (IL-12) sounded a similar note in his debate: “First thing I would vote on, I would sponsor is an amendment to end Citizens United. It has corrupted our democracy
Some highlights include:
- In NY-21, Antonio Delgado said in his closing remarks, “I’ve pledged to not take any corporate PAC money. I pledged to overturn Citizens United. There are no strings attached to me … I’m here to work for you and I’m only beholden to you.”
- In NC-13, Kathy Manning closed out her debate by saying her opponent “sold us out. He took big money from special interest corporations and he’s voted with them. … I haven’t taken a dime of corporate PAC money because I want to represent people, not big corporations.
- IN TX-32, Colin Allred said, “Our democracy must not be for sale. So there are a few fundamental steps I think we should take. I do believe Citizens United should be overturned. I believe it was a mistake … But I also believe we must quickly move to increase disclosure so we know where this money is coming from.”
- In CO-06, Jason Crow asked his opponent, Rep. Mike Coffman, “Will you take a pledge not to take any corporate PAC money? You have taken almost $2 million. … There is only one person at this table that has taken corporate PAC money.”
- In MN-03, Dean Phillips said reform would be a top priority if elected: “I will be the loudest voice for campaign finance reform that the U.S. Congress has ever seen.” In another debate, Phillips said, “The relentless pursuit of money in this political system is to the detriment of everyone we hope to represent.”
- In the Texas Senate debate, Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s criticism of Sen. Ted Cruz’s support for the tax bill and the windfall of corporate cash he received for it went viral.
- In TX-07, Lizzie Fletcher said in her debate with Rep. John Culberson, “In fact, I signed a letter last week saying the first thing that we need to do when we are elected to Congress is address corruption in Congress, address campaign finance. And we need to make sure that we’re bringing ethics reform to Congress, because what we have seen, especially in the last two years, is that we are not draining the swamp, we are growing the swamp.”
- In NY-11, Max Rose passionately rebuked Rep. Dan Donovan about corruption and highlighted the letter he signed with over 100 House candidates calling for reform to be the first item on the agenda in 2019.