VanOstran joins growing list of ECU-endorsed candidates who refuse corporate PAC money
Washington, DC — End Citizens United (ECU) today endorsed Cort VanOstran for Congress in Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District. VanOstran is committed to reforming the rigged system, and supports bills including the DISCLOSE Act and Government By The People Act to increase transparency and accountability in our elections. As a sign of his commitment to reform, VanOstran recently announced that he is rejecting corporate PAC money in his campaign. ECU encourages candidates to reject money from corporate special interests and has identified over 100 candidates who are making a similar commitment.
“In Washington, mega-donors dominate the conversation and have a tight grip over too many politicians. It’s corrupting the system and leaving Missouri families behind,” said ECU President Tiffany Muller. “VanOstran is committed to reforming the rigged system by curbing the influence of Big Money special interests in politics. We’re proud to endorse Cort and look forward to helping him win in November.”
“I am proud to have earned the support of End Citizens United, an organization that believes voters, and not corporate money, should decide elections. Citizens United is a case that represents everything wrong with money in politics. As long as cases like Citizens United are on the books, corporations will continue to wield too much power in our democracy,” Cort said. “That is why I pledge to accept no corporate PAC money in this campaign. I’m running for Congress to make sure that the voters of the Second Congressional District have a representative who works for them–not for corporate special interests.”
With a recent Gallup poll showing that 90% of Americans believe the government is working for the benefit of a few big interests, a robust reform agenda is critical to winning support from voters, particularly independents. Notably, ECU polling has found that 62% of voters believe that a candidate refusing corporate PAC money is a sign that the candidate is serious about reform.
The endorsement will help VanOstran compete with high-spending special interest groups by connecting him with its 5,300 grassroots members in MO-02, as well as its national network of 400,000 small-dollar donors.
ECU is an entirely grassroots-funded organization dedicated to electing members of Congress who will fight to get Big Money out of politics so Congress focuses on all of us and not only its biggest special interest donors.
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