End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller released the following statement on Senator Joni Ernst’s (R-IA), a Big Money 20 incumbent, campaign working closely with a dark money group intended to boost her reelection, a move which violates campaign finance law:
“Senator Joni Ernst is illegally working with a dark money group to cover up her vote to raise healthcare costs for Iowa families. Using the same consultants to simultaneously run the campaign and a dark money group to boost her reelection is an egregious violation of the law. But after voting to raise healthcare costs and take away protections for preexisting conditions, Ernst can’t rely on Iowans for support, so she turned to dark money to bankroll her reelection. Senator Ernst must be held accountable.”
In the 2018 cycle, End Citizens United helped defeat or retire 82% of the Big Money 20 members. ECU will connect its more than 550,000 grassroots donors 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 27,800 in Iowa. 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.
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