For Immediate Release
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Contact: Adam Bozzi, [email protected]
End Citizens United has announced that it will report $4.4 million raised in the quarter and $19 million for the cycle in its quarterly report to the FEC.
ECU is a traditional political action committee (PAC) that cannot accept more than $5,000 from an individual in a calendar year. It’s exclusively funded by small dollar contributions, with more than 260,000 donors in every state and territory who have made an average contribution of about $13.
“Across the country, Americans recognize that our politics are broken. They understand that the root of the problem is a campaign finance system that gives a handful of individuals greater power and access, while shutting out everyone else,” End Citizens United Executive Director Tiffany Muller said. “End Citizens United is proving there’s a way for the grassroots to compete with billionaires, and that campaign finance reform can be a significant electoral issue.”
ECU’s goal is to elect candidates who are committed to reversing the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, stopping the use of Super PACs and secret “dark money” organizations, and putting an end to the corrosive influence that unlimited, undisclosed money has on our elections.
Established in March 2015, ECU is a unique and groundbreaking organization that has engaged grassroots advocates who believe we must end the corroding influence that Big Money has on our elections. To date, more than a million and a half ECU members have taken action in support of endingCitizens United.
In its first cycle, ECU has aired a series of ads to support Democrats who are pushing for reform, and to hold Republicans accountable for siding with special interests instead of American families. The ads have run in New Hampshire, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, as well as in Maine’s 2nd congressional district and New York’s 19th congressional district. In addition to television ads, ECU has also run digital ads and sent direct mail in several districts.
Earlier in the year, ECU ran issue ads in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Missouri in support of the President’s authority to appoint a nominee to the Supreme Court, as well as an issue ad in Ohio in favor of campaign finance reform legislation.
ECU supports its candidates through direct contributions; fundraising; connecting grassroots supporters to local endorsed campaigns; and sharing polling to help guide their messaging on this issue.
ECU has unveiled 13 Champions of Democracy – its featured candidates for the 2016 Election. These candidates have fought for and are advocating for meaningful reform to our campaign finance system, including the reversal of the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision, which opened the door to a flood of unlimited and undisclosed spending in elections.