Press Releases

Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s Big Dollar Donors Pay for His Silence in Third Quarter

Oct 17, 2019

Hagedorn, a Big Money 20 incumbent, has taken over $117,000 from corporate PACs over the course of his political career of pay-to-play politics

Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s (MN-01) Big Oil donors prevent him from standing up for Southern Minnesota families. In the third fundraising quarter of 2019, only five percent of Hagedorn’s contributions came from small-dollar donations while eighteen percent ($39,000) came from corporate PACs.

Jim Hagedorn’s megadonors have influenced his time in Washington. Hagedorn received $12,000 from oil and gas corporate PACs during the same quarter he cast three votes in favor of offshore drilling. In the midst of the Corn Plus ethanol plant closing in Winnebago, MN, Hagedorn stood by as the Trump administration gave refinery waivers that hurt Minnesota farmers after a plant shut down in Southern Minnesota. Forty employees were laid off.

“In Washington, Rep. Jim Hagedorn has given voice to corporations and stayed silent when Southern Minnesota needed him,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “Jim Hagedorn was bought and paid for a long time ago. While Hagedorn was cashing in campaign checks from Big Oil, he did nothing for the farmers in Southern Minnesota when Corn Plus closed and laid off 40 hardworking employees. Minnesotans deserve a representative who won’t go quiet when corporate special interests tell him to. Minnesota deserves better than Jim Hagedorn.”

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 4,600 in Minnesota’s First Congressional District. ECU raised $44 million in the 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

###