80+ Democrats Join End Citizens United's Campaign to Unrig Washington

From Senators and House members to federal candidates across the country, the initial list spans the ideological spectrum

Trump’s Corruption Gives Democrats a Shot at a Unifying Message, reports Huff Post. This week, End Citizens United announced that 84 Members of Congress and congressional candidates joined its campaign to Unrig Washington.

“The Democrats who have signed on span the party’s ideological spectrum, including both progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Blue Dog Coalition member Rep. Jared Golden of Maine,” the report says. The full list of initial participants can be found at UnrigWashington.org, and End Citizens United will grow the campaign throughout the cycle.

Unrig Washington is centered around three critical reforms that are extremely popular with voters across the ideological spectrum: banning congressional stock trading, refusing corporate PAC money, and cracking down on dark money.

“Members of Congress are more interested in enriching themselves or their corporate donors than serving their constituents. This must end,” said Congresswoman Summer Lee. "This is why I am proud to join End Citizens United's Unrig Washington Campaign."

Unrig Washington is a winning issue for any congressional candidate campaigning in this political climate. It is what voters are asking for. As Huff Post put it, this gives congressional candidates an effective messaging opportunity in a country polarized to the brink.

Americans agree that the political system is corrupt and needs reform. An overwhelming bipartisan majority, 86% of Americans, support Congressional stock trading bans, for example. As Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, told Democracy News, “Voters want change. They have been voting for change for over 20 years, and this is especially true when they view our system as unresponsive to their economic needs.”

To win in the midterm elections, Democratic candidates absolutely must speak loudly and unequivocally about the need to clean up our political system to give everyday people a fair shake — and they must follow through. End Citizens United battleground polling shows that voters in key swing House districts view Democrats as more corrupt than Republicans. The same polling also shows that by focusing on fighting corruption and championing popular reforms — like those outlined in the Unrig Washington — Democrats can win back key voting blocs necessary to flip the House next November.

Unrig Washington provides a clear path for Democrats to demonstrate that they aren’t running for office to represent corporations, donors, or political organizations — they’re running to represent everyday people.

You may have heard that Jimmy Kimmel’s show was pulled from the air “for the foreseeable future.” Nexstar Media Group, a major owner and operator of local and regional TV broadcasters, pulled the show, and said in a statement: “Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.” Nexstar is seeking Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna, another media company. On X, Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman, wrote, “I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing.” Sinclair Broadcasting followed. President Trump said that many TV stations are “against” him: "They give me only bad publicity, press. I mean, they're getting a licence. I would think maybe their licence should be taken away."

No one’s guarding our billion-dollar midterms, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Under Trump, the FEC lacks a quorum and can’t regulate the millions and millions of dollars sloshing around ahead of the midterm elections. The Post-Gazette reports political donors are projected to spend over a billion dollars on the midterms. “This is not good for democracy,” Former FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub, who Trump fired within days of taking office, told the paper. “People will be more inclined to break the rules if there’s nobody there to sanction them.”

In foreign affairs: The late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s widow says that lab reports show her husband was poisoned. If you need to borrow some courage, listen to Navalny telling his supporters: “You’re not allowed to give up.”

It’s been a long week. Here’s Graham Platner on fighting the oligarchy. And here’s a live bear cam.

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