TOPLINE:
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Today, Senate Democrats swear in their majority makers: Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who were elected after running on reforming Washington and holding their opponents accountable for rampant corruption.
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End Citizens United’s mission and message dominated in Georgia. In television ads run by Democrats, 41% (56 out of 135) highlighted key reform topics.
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This is the culmination of more than four years of political work at End Citizens United to elect pro-reform Democrats and flip the House first in 2018 and now the Senate in 2020.
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Now, the Democratic House and Senate are both poised to prioritize the “For the People Act” as the first bill in each chamber. This democratic reform is both popular and desperately needed in this country, especially after the insurrection at the Capitol.
HOW WE GOT HERE:
In 2018, House Democrats made combating corruption and reforming Washington one of the three pillars in their 2018 campaigns
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Almost 30% percent of all ads that cycle focused on anti-corruption and campaign finance reform.
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The movement to refuse corporate PAC money took off: 27 of 40 freshmen who flipped seats from red to blue (67.5%) refused to take corporate PAC money.
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Over 100 candidates wrote to Congress saying that this should be the House’s first bill.
In 2020, Democrats made these issues a central plank as they took back the Senate
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All 5 Senate Democratic freshmen senators pledged not to take corporate PAC money
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In Georgia, 41 percent of Democratic ads (56 out of 135) were on corruption or democracy reform, including:
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The No Corporate PAC pledge
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Insider stock trading
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Perdue and Loeffler’s support for handouts for corporations and big donors but opposition to stimulus for families
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Voting rights
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… and it’s how we held the House majority:
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70% of Frontline freshmen who didn’t take corporate PAC money won – with one race still uncalled.
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The only Red-to-Blue flip in the country was a candidate who does not take corporate PAC money: Carolyn Bourdeaux (GA-07).
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10 of the 15 (67%) incoming Democratic freshmen in the House reject corporate PAC money – an increase from 56% of the 2019 freshman class.
The results: in 2021, the House and Senate have designated the For the People Act as H.R. 1 and S. 1 respectively. And its substance is popular with the American people.
VOTER OPINION:
Voter frustration with Washington’s corruption and dysfunction has been building for years and has destroyed trust in government.
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A large majority of Americans (76%) said the government is “run by a few big interests looking out for themselves” rather than “for the benefit of all the people.” (Pew Research Center, 04/2018)
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Voters in battleground districts said “ending the culture of corruption” was the #1 issue in the 2018 election. There was a larger gap between corruption and other issues among Independent voters. (GQR in House battleground districts, 11/2018)
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Public dissatisfaction with the state of the nation’s campaign finance laws continued to reach all-time lows. Only 20% of Americans said they were satisfied with our campaign finance system – the lowest number since Gallup began tracking it in 2001. (Gallup, 01/2019)
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A majority of voters saw corruption in the political system as the most pressing problem facing the country, especially among independents. Political corruption ranked ahead of rising healthcare costs and climate change. (CLC, 11/2019).
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In Senate battlegrounds, 79% of voters said they are more likely to support a candidate who will strengthen lobby and government ethics. (GSG, 03/2020)
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Even during the coronavirus pandemic, voters, 72% of voters in House battlegrounds ranked corruption as a top or major priority. (GQR, 04/2020)
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