The Anti-Corruption Strategy Democrats Are Rallying Around

After years of rising costs, public distrust, and open corruption in Washington, voters are fed up with a political system that actively works against their interests. But the 2024 elections made it clear that Democrats can’t rely on familiar tactics or assume voters will come back after seeing how Republicans govern. Democrats need a strategy that confronts corruption directly and addresses the driving force behind voter anger.

In 2025, End Citizens United (ECU) set out to find that strategy and help lay the foundation for Democrats to win back Congress in 2026.

Rather than guessing what message might break through, ECU went directly to voters to understand what they believed was broken in our politics and what they expected from leaders who wanted their trust. The answers shaped everything ECU did this year.

That work led to ECU’s launch of Unrig Washington, the largest and fastest growing anti-corruption coalition in the Democratic Party. This is the most momentum we’ve seen in the reform movement since the 2018 midterm elections, and the infrastructure ECU created this year can help Democrats achieve the same electoral level of success in 2026 they did then.

What Voters Told Us

In the aftermath of the 2024 elections, ECU took a hard look at what went wrong and what Democrats needed to do differently. We did not assume we already had the answers. We went directly to voters.

Across battleground states we conducted polling, focus groups, and on-the-ground research to better understand how voters see Washington and what they expect from elected officials.

What we heard came with a stark warning heading into the 2026 cycle. At the time, many battleground voters trusted Republicans more than Democrats to tackle corruption and shake up the status quo in Washington. This was true even as Donald Trump’s corruption scandals dominated headlines and Republican officials openly engaged in self-enrichment.

But the research also revealed a path forward: When Democrats center corruption as a core problem and back popular reforms, trust shifts. Voters respond when candidates show they understand corruption is driving costs, unaffordable health care, and economic insecurity.

Overwhelmingly, voters believe corruption is the root cause of Washington’s failures and the problems they face in their own lives.

Turning Research into Action with Unrig Washington

Research alone does not win elections. Voters need proof that candidates are serious about reform.

To meet that moment, ECU launched Unrig Washington, our boldest and most comprehensive campaign to unify Democrats under an anti-corruption banner. Unrig Washington gives voters an immediate signal about what a candidate stands for and provides candidates a strong anti-corruption platform. It is both a serious reform agenda and a visible commitment to accountability.

Unrig Washington is a growing coalition of Democratic incumbents and challengers committed to a clear set of anti-corruption principles. Every candidate rejects corporate PAC money, supports banning congressional stock trading, and works to end the influence of dark money in elections. Taken together, these commitments send a powerful message to voters that Democrats are the party of reform and they’re ready to clean up Washington.

Just as important, ECU built the infrastructure to elevate these candidates. Throughout the year, we traveled across the country to host town halls, campaign events, and re-launched our organizing department to mobilize our thousands of grassroots supporters. Combined with media appearances and digital platforms, these public events gave candidates a consistent way to communicate their message to voters. These were not one-off moments. They were part of a coordinated national effort to show voters that Democrats are serious about changing how Washington works.

A Historic and Unifying Coalition

When we launched Unrig Washington in the fall, 83 candidates signed on immediately. Currently, there are over 120 candidates on board. That level of buy-in and speed is incredibly rare in politics.

For context, during the 2018 election cycle it took nearly two full years for ECU to get 150 candidates to reject corporate PAC money. That effort ultimately helped elect a historic class that turned anti-corruption into a governing priority. It’s the reason the For the People Act, later reintroduced as the Freedom to Vote Act, became the number one legislative priority for House and Senate Democrats.

Unrig Washington reached that scale in a fraction of the time – and it’s only getting started.

That speed signals a fundamental shift inside the Democratic Party. Running on anti-corruption reform is no longer a niche position. It is rapidly becoming a baseline expectation that voters recognize and reward.

Equally important is who makes up this coalition. Unrig Washington spans the full ideological spectrum of the Democratic Party, from Blue Dog Democrats to members of the Progressive Caucus, Red to Blue candidates to those running in open safe Democratic districts, and everyone in between. These candidates disagree on many policy questions and represent very different districts. What unites them is a shared commitment to confronting corruption and rejecting Big Money’s influence over our government.

That unity is the campaign’s real strength. Unrig Washington gives Democrats a clear set of shared values, regardless of their district. Our party is often criticized for struggling to speak with one voice. This offers a unifying framework that works in red, blue, and purple districts.

Proof at the Ballot Box

The power of running on anti-corruption has been tested in recent elections. This past November, voters rejected GOP attacks on democracy by defeating voter suppression efforts in Maine, protecting the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from billionaire takeover, and electing the reform-minded Abigail Spanberger as Virginia’s first woman governor.

And in Tennessee’s 7th District – one of the deepest-red districts in the country – Aftyn Behn shattered expectations by running a campaign that tied the rising costs of housing, health care, and grocery bills directly to a political system captured by corporations and billionaires. She delivered a massive overperformance that proved what ECU has proven will work all year: Corruption must be framed as the root cause of the affordability crisis and other policy issues.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Unchecked political spending and corruption pose an existential threat to our democracy. The unprecedented pay-to-play corruption of the Trump administration and GOP-led Congress is leading us into an outright oligarchy. But their self-enriching behavior also presents a political opening. Voters are ready for leaders who will confront corruption and build a government that works for them.

In 2025, ECU did more than respond to this moment. We helped shape it by grounding our strategy in voter research, launching Unrig Washington, and supporting reform-minded candidates. In doing so, we helped make anti-corruption a central pillar of Democratic politics and provided a clear roadmap for Democrats to take back Congress in 2026.