Baer joins growing list of ECU-endorsed candidates who refuse corporate PAC money
End Citizens United (ECU) today endorsed Lauren Baer in Florida’s 18th Congressional District. Baer is rejecting all corporate PAC money in her campaign for Congress. Her commitment is part of a growing trend – as an unprecedented number of candidates are rejecting corporate PAC money. ECU is leading efforts to encourage candidates to refuse corporate special interest money.
“Voters are fed up with the way Washington does business, and they’re demanding reform,” said ECU President Tiffany Muller. “By rejecting corporate PAC money, Lauren is taking bold steps to address the problem before she even gets to Congress. She’s showing voters that she’s listening. ECU is proud to endorse her campaign and will work to help elect her to Congress.”
“I’m honored to have the endorsement of End Citizens United. As a litigator, I took the fight to defend our campaign finance laws alI the way to the Supreme Court, and as a member of Congress I will make campaign finance reform one of my top priorities. I look forward to working with ECU to preserve our democracy and ensure that elections represent the will of all Americans, not corporations and special interests,” said Baer.
The decision to refuse corporate PAC contributions is a growing trend among 2018 candidates, including Democrats such as Beto O’Rourke (TX-Senate), Jason Crow (CO-06), Andy Kim (NJ-03) and Elissa Slotkin (MI-08). Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker also recently announced they would turn away corporate PAC money. To date, ECU has identified over 70 candidates who are making a similar commitment to rejecting corporate PAC money.
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. A recent Gallup poll shows that Americans’ faith in the government is at an all-time low, with over 90% believing the government is working for the benefit of a few special interests. A robust reform agenda is critical to winning support from voters, particularly independents.
ECU’s endorsement will help Baer compete with high-spending special interest groups by connecting her with its 8,000 grassroots members in FL-18, as well as its national network of 400,000 small-dollar donors. With an average donation of $14, ECU is projected to raise $35 million for the 2018 election cycle.
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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