It’s go time at End Citizens United. The midterm elections will decide whether the Trump Administration can keep its disastrous course – or whether Democrats will take back the House and Senate and provide a serious check to the rampant corruption of this Republican president and Congress. Throughout this election cycle, ECU has been supporting hundreds of anti-corruption candidates for state and federal office, and they’re now in the final sprint to flip as many seats as possible.
Voters know the system is corrupt. According to a just-released YouGov poll commissioned by ECU Education Fund, 91% of midterm voters say corruption in government is a serious problem. ECU-endorsed candidates are listening to voters. A record-breaking 300 candidates have taken ECU’s Unrig Washington pledge to support three specific anti-corruption reforms: banning congressional stock trading, getting dark money out of politics, and refusing corporate PAC money. These candidates are talking about fighting corruption on the campaign trail every day, and voters are rewarding them for it.
ECU President Tiffany Muller has been zigzagging the country campaigning with House and Senate candidates and talking with community organizers and voters about how we can all contribute to getting our country back on track. First and foremost, this November, we need to elect anti-corruption champions who are going to address the problems in Washington head on.
Muller talked to us about ECU’s work during this election cycle that is being defined by discussions about corruption, in large part thanks to ECU’s Unrig Washington campaign.
Democracy News: How is the corruption conversation different this cycle or this year versus other years?
Muller: There are two main differences this cycle. Number one, I think the corruption we are seeing in this administration and then this government is more blatant and bigger than we’ve ever experienced in the history of our country. Every day there’s a new pay-to-play scandal coming out of this Trump Administration or related to his family, and voters know it and are mad about it.
The other way that corruption is really playing differently this year than in previous cycles is how much more voters are connecting corruption in Washington to the costs that they are paying day to day. At ECU we used to have to connect the dots between the money in politics and the fact that all the political corruption means we couldn’t address things like the high cost of healthcare or a tax system that’s really unfair. Voters are drawing those connections every single day, and they view not just Donald Trump and this administration as to blame, but the entire political system as rigged and corrupt and harmful to them personally.
Democracy News: ECU has been hosting town halls and other events all across the country. What are you hearing from candidates, and what are you hearing from voters about political corruption?
Muller: ECU has hosted almost 50 town halls across the country. At this point, I’ve met thousands of voters in all kinds of communities. We’ve been in red districts, blue districts, urban areas, rural areas, red states, blue states, and the first thing I would say is that voters feel invisible. They say things like: “No one cares about me. No one cares about me or the struggles of my family and my community.” There’s a desperation that I feel from voters about the need for change.
In 2018, I traveled all over the country, and there was kind of a righteous, happy warrior energy about taking back our country. This cycle, there’s a much more desperate energy out there. One of the things that voters bring up in every single town hall is data centers and AI. The Supreme Court and how corrupted it is also comes up. People are very concerned. They understand that the war in Iran and healthcare cuts and all these other problems all connect back to money in politics.
This is the most corruption-focused election cycle that we have seen in at least the last 20 years. At ECU, we have our largest ever class of anti-corruption candidates. We have 300 candidates running on the Unrig Washington Pledge, which is about three common sense things: supporting a congressional stock trading ban, not taking corporate PAC money and ending dark money. ECU candidates are out there talking to voters about their commitment that’s reflected in that voluntary pledge, trying to break through voters’ cynicism and restore a little bit of faith and trust in the possibility of a different kind of public servant.
Democracy News: Your Unrig Washington program has been one of the biggest successes in progressive politics for the cycle. More than 300 federal candidates across the country signed up to center getting both corruption and money out of politics in their campaigns. Why do you think it resonated?
Muller: The reason that so many candidates have signed on to the pledge isn’t because we ask them to. It’s because voters are demanding it. The number one issue for our voters is costs and affordability. Their next biggest concern is corruption and government, and voters are linking those issues, so candidates have to have a plan to address the corruption in Washington to reach voters.
What’s great about the Unrig Washington pledge is that it’s really common sense and easy for voters to understand. And candidates can pledge to do these things because they’re in their control. They can choose to voluntarily not take corporate PAC money and to show voters that they are going to be a people-powered campaign rather than selling out to corporate special interests.
So, we’ve seen that the Unrig pillars–a stock trading ban, no corporate PAC money, and ending dark money– have become central points around the anti-corruption framing for campaigns. You see campaigns proactively taking on these issues. The reason they’re talking about it is that it’s breaking through with skeptical voters.
The Unrig pledge helps them contrast themselves with their Republican opponents, especially incumbents, who have often taken thousands from corporate PACs and then have been lining their pockets trading stocks in those same companies, while serving on government committees. Some candidates’ ads are essentially Unrig ads, and that’s great to see because candidates who campaign on these issues will then champion these reforms in office. There’s been over $115 million spent already on ads about a stock trading ban, and there’s been almost $100 million on ads on not taking corporate PAC money. That is far and away the most we’ve ever seen spent on anti-corruption messaging ads during any election cycle.
In 2018, when the No Corporate Pac pledge started, we were able to flip 27 House seats with no corporate PAC members. It led to HR1 and the largest comprehensive democracy reform bill in a generation. I think during this cycle an even bigger wave of reformers will be elected, and so it’s going to change the makeup of both the House and Senate caucus, and it’s going to give real momentum for needed change on Capitol Hill.
Democracy News: As ECU’s president, what are you most focused on in these final weeks before the election?
Muller: We still have a lot of work to do in these last weeks. At ECU, we’re rolling out programming on an almost daily basis to make sure that we are getting voters out to the polls, making sure that we are fighting voter suppression, and making sure that voters know the contrast between our reform champions and their opponents. So, our volunteers are helping campaigns reach and turn out voters through phone banks and text banks and knocking on doors.
Meanwhile, I’m traveling to some of the biggest battlegrounds in the country to talk about these issues as we are coming down the stretch. Some of the toughest races, whether in Maine or Michigan, are going to decide the House majority and the Senate majority. Unrig Washington and ECU-endorsed candidates want to make the argument about their Republican opponent’s corruption. During these events, ECU is helping bring the anti-corruption platform of candidates like Troy Jackson and Abdul El-Sayed to the forefront of voters’ minds.
Democracy News: What are you paying attention to as a political observer?
Muller: September often feels good for Democrats, and October often tightens back up. We know that there’s just a small sliver of voters that are truly undecided by the end of the election, so I’m looking to see what happens with polling in Republican-leaning districts just before the election.
I’m going to be looking at places like Iowa. Kansas is my home state, so I always watch it. I’m going to be watching races like Ohio 7, which is a Republican-leaning House district, to see where the polling moves and tighten ups, to kind of get a sense of how big that wave might be on Election Day.
Those of us in the democracy movement are paying attention to what shenanigans this administration is going to pull to keep people from voting or to stop certification of the votes. This authoritarian-leaning administration has shown almost no boundaries and no limits around their willingness to cheat to win. You know whether it’s redistricting, whether it’s the sheer amount of money they’re pouring into politics, the voter suppression, the gutting of the Voting Rights Act - they’re interfering with the right to vote. Now they’re talking about everything from the National Guard at polling locations to seizing ballots and stopping certification of election outcomes. Thankfully, there’s an incredible group of leaders who are regularly working on those scenarios and what can be done to push back against those scenarios.
But at the same time, there’s a lot that gives me hope. People are showing up to these town halls to talk about how to save our country. Everything that’s going on in their lives, the jobs they’re working, and they’re still showing up.
And, here’s another thing: I don’t think we can let them win without a fight. It matters that we show up and keep pushing for the country and future that we believe in. That we fight for our values every day. Even if there are battles we lose, I believe the long-term effort will be successful. That’s what keeps me going every day.
We need the upper crust out of our govt.