End Citizens United (ECU) President Tiffany Muller released the following statement on Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s win in today’s primary:
“Congratulations to Beto O’Rourke. There’s an unstoppable wave of energy taking hold to reform the rigged system in Washington. Beto is defying all odds and his commitment to rejecting all PAC and special interest money is inspiring a legendary grassroots movement.
“Despite the Ted Cruz big money machine, Beto and his grassroots supporters aren’t slowing down. Beto’s record of standing up to big money special interests has earned him the support of Texans who want a leader in the Senate who will stand up and fight for them — not the interests of mega-donors.”
A proven champion of reform, Beto O’Rourke was the first challenger ECU endorsed in the 2018 midterms. O’Rourke is committed to ending the corrupting influence of big money in politics, and he’s leading by example, rejecting all PAC and special interest money in his campaign. ECU’s grassroots members have raised over $50,000 with an average contribution of about $8.00 for his campaign.
In December, ECU named Senator Cruz to its Big Money 20 target list for the 2018 midterms. The members of the Big Money 20 are incumbents who do the bidding of special interests while also voting to keep the rigged system in place. For example, after benefiting from at least $3 million in outside spending in his 2012 Senate race, Cruz introduced a deceptively named bill to allow mega-donors and special interests to give unlimited contributions directly to candidates. His call to eliminate super PACs was a veiled attempt at erasing the already weakened barrier between mega-donors and candidates. Over his career, Cruz has repeatedly attacked campaign finance reform, saying that “money absolutely can be speech” and that efforts to reform money in politics was about “silencing” citizens.
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