End Citizens United (ECU) today endorsed Liz Watson in Indiana’s 9th Congressional District. Watson 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, Liz 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 am thrilled to receive the endorsement of End Citizens United. No matter what issue we’re talking about — whether it’s taxes, infrastructure, student loans, health care, raising the minimum wage, common-sense gun reform, the freedom to join a union, public education, you name it — the reason our Congress fails to bring us common-sense solutions boils down to this: dark, unregulated money that is flooding our political system.
“Hardworking Hoosiers, and working families across the country, are being ripped off by politicians who are in the pockets of their corporate donors. I have sworn off corporate PAC money, and I have focused my campaign on meeting with and listening to people in my district, town halls, bean suppers, and union halls. Our current representative, Trey Hollingsworth, avoids interactions like these like the plague. He used his family fortune and corporate PAC money to buy his seat, and then he turned his back on voters in our district. End Citizens United has led the way in that fight, and I am proud to stand with them. I will be a champion in Congress for campaign finance reform. Taking back our country will not be easy. But we must do everything we can to fight back against corruption and corporate greed,” said Watson.
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. ECU has identified over 70 candidates to date 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 Watson compete with high-spending special interest groups by connecting her with its more than 6,300 grassroots members in IN-09, 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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