Washington, DC –– End Citizens United (ECU) today named Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to the Big Money 20, the group’s top targets to defeat in 2020. ECU’s Big Money 20 campaign is focused on defeating incumbents who benefit most from the corrupt establishment in Washington by showing voters how politicians like Sen. McConnell put corporate special interest donors ahead of the people they’re supposed to represent.
“Mitch McConnell is the architect of our failed system and the leader of Washington’s corrupt establishment,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “McConnell has spent his entire career protecting his mega-donors and gifting them with unmatched access to lawmakers and policy decisions. He sees no issue with the amount of big money in our system. In fact, he thinks there should be more of it. Mitch McConnell doesn’t just enable the pay-to-play politics that is corrupting our democracy, he rejoices in it. McConnell represents the worst of Washington, and End Citizens United will do everything we can to see that he is defeated in 2020.”
The Big Money 20 aims to educate voters about incumbents who represent the worst of Washington 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 Big Oil and then put those interests ahead of their constituents.
In January, the House of Representatives passed the For the People Act (H.R. 1), the most sweeping anti-corruption legislation since Watergate that would get big money out of our politics and put democracy back in the hands of the American people. Before H.R. 1 was even introduced, McConnell declared that he was determined to kill the bill without putting it up for a vote in the Senate. McConnell’s rise to Majority Leader has been bankrolled by dark money groups. He also spearheaded the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC that in 2018 accepted a $1 million contribution from a company with ties to Russian oligarchs. McConnell celebrated the Citizens United ruling that released a flood of dark money into our politics. He has praised the Koch brothers and their billionaire friends, and cheered on the outsized and corrupting influence money plays in our politics.
In the 2018 cycle, End Citizens United helped defeat 82% of the Big Money 20 targets. ECU will connect its more than 550,000 members 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 29,600 in Kentucky. ECU raised $44 million in the 2018 last cycle and helped elect over 150 members to the 116th Congress, including two new U.S. Senators and 58 new U.S. Representatives. The reform group 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.
# # #