Perdue has taken over $2.8 million from corporate PACs over the course of his political career
The Big Money 20 campaign will focus on defeating incumbents who represent a rigged Washington establishment that puts corporate special interests ahead of voters’ needs
End Citizens United (ECU) today named Senator David Perdue (R-GA) to the Big Money 20, the group’s top incumbents to defeat in 2020. ECU’s Big Money 20 campaign is focused on defeating incumbents who are rigging the system to benefit themselves, their donors, and the corrupt establishment. The group will show voters how members of Congress, like David Perdue, benefit from the influence of Big Money.
“David Perdue has benefited from millions in corporate special interest money and uses his position in the Senate to reward his corporate donors by voting to cut their taxes at the expense of Georgia families,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “While he was elected to the Senate to work on behalf of Georgians, Perdue instead spends his time protecting Big Pharma, the Big Banks, and health insurance companies. Meanwhile, Jon Ossoff has made rooting out corruption the fight of his career and his refusal to take corporate PAC donations and federal lobbyist money is a testament to his commitment to putting Georgia families first. We look forward to fighting alongside Jon Ossoff and further exposing Senator David Perdue’s history of corruption.”
End Citizens United aims to educate voters about the Big Money 20 and rally support for reforming the political system. The members of the Big Money 20 are incumbents who take money from corporate special interests, mega-donors, and industries like Big Pharma and Wall Street and then put those interests ahead of their constituents.
David Perdue has a personal stake in making sure unlimited and undisclosed money remains part of our political system, which is why he continues to reject efforts to limit outside spending. While Georgia families dealt with the toll of COVID-19, David Perdue faced allegations of insider trading. On the same day that the Senate met to discuss the Coronavirus, Perdue purchased stock in DuPont de Numours, a company that manufactures personal protective equipment. Similarly, before the pandemic shocked the markets, he also purchased stocks in Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company, and Netflix. “The Boardroom,” Perdue’s donor program that gives big dollar donors insider-access to the Senator, including an annual retreat at a Sea Island resort often referred to as the “playground for the Southern rich” is just another example of his reliance on big money to fund his campaign, only worsening our country’s corruption problem. Rather than work to make progress on critical issues impacting Georgians, David Perdue would rather butter up his donors: in a 2019 Perdue skipped a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing that included testimony on lead paint poisoning in Georgia military housing. Instead, he met with his big money donors instead of doing his job and attending the hearing. Re-electing David Perdue means more dark money, more special interest groups, and more Washington corruption in our political system and a re-commitment to the status quo.
In the 2018 cycle, End Citizens United helped defeat or retire 82% of the Big Money 20 targets. ECU will connect its more than 550,000 donors to endorsed candidates who are challenging Big Money 20 targets.
ECU has conducted extensive polling and research showing that voters across the political spectrum support getting Big Money out of politics. ECU is a traditional political action committee (PAC) with more than four million members, including 75,000 in Georgia. The reform group raised and spent $44 million last cycle, and is entirely grassroots-funded with an average donation of just $14.
For a full list and additional background on the Big Money 20, click here.
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