End Citizens United endorsed only 2 incumbent House Democrats that were majority-funded by small donors
Over one-in-five Democratic House incumbents endorsed by the organization in 2020 and that won re-election received a majority of their campaign funds from corporate political action committees.
End Citizens United, the advocacy group dedicated to campaign finance reform, has worked hard to position itself as an organization who champions purveyors of grassroots, anti-corporate financing in campaigning. While a well-funded effort to counter the influence of wealthy corporate political action committees, End Citizens United does not always back politicians who are truly committed to this ambition. 85 of the incumbent House Democrats the group endorsed in 2020 won their re-election, but only two were majority-funded by small donors: Katie Hill (CA-45) and Nancy Pelosi (CA-12).
The organization’s leadership talks a good game, succinctly articulating where and how corporate money is directed and the decision-making it influences. It’s clear that they know what they’re talking about. “While rejecting corporate PAC money is only one step and corporations still have other ways to pollute the political system,” said Tiffany Muller, president and executive director of End Citizens United, “candidates who take the ‘no corporate PAC’ pledge are leading the charge on cracking down on the corrupting influence of money in politics.” So then, it’s a mystery to me why Muller’s organization has endorsed so many candidates who not only didn’t refuse corporate PAC money, but were mostly funded by it.
End Citizens United endorsed 18 House incumbents, all Democrats, who were majority-funded by corporate PACs:
It’s no wonder that progressive groups are increasingly viewing End Citizens United, founded in 2015, with skepticism. “[D]espite such lofty rhetoric, the group has done virtually nothing to actually promote a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United,” wrote Danny Goldberg in The American Prospect. “Instead, the group is strictly a political action committee that has raised $6.8 million thanks to heavy spending on [email] list rentals and fundraising overhead.”
The group’s willingness to back Corporate Democrats like Rep. Beatty Joyce (OH-03), whose 2020 campaign saw 55 percent of fundraising come from business PACs, allows for these incumbents to deceive voters into thinking they’re committed to campaign finance reform. “The outsized influence of big money in politics is drowning out the voices of everyday Ohioans,” the Joyce campaign posted on Facebook announcing their endorsement. This statement came on the same day Rep. Joyce received $1,000 from JPMorgan Chase. In all, finance capital alone represented over a third (35.6%) of all the money she raised that cycle.
Endorsements from End Citizens United are effectively meaningless and only used to launder a lie that many Democrats take the issue of corporate campaign finance seriously. It’s much more impactful for a candidate to loudly and publicly declare that they are not accepting corporate PAC money, as those endorsed by End Citizens United conspicuously reject such pledges. For example, Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) was endorsed by End Citizens United in 2020 but just the year before rejected a constituent demand to not accept corporate PAC money. “I won’t refuse political action committee money,” he said, “at all.”
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