End Citizens United
July 29, 2019

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TAKE “REFORM FIRST” PLEDGE TO MAKE ANTI-CORRUPTION AND DEMOCRACY REFORM LEGISLATION THEIR FIRST BILL

End Citizens United (ECU) is launching the “Reform First” campaign, a first of its kind campaign highlighting the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who are committed to making anti-corruption and democracy reform legislation their first bill if they are elected President. The campaign will have a website, www.ReformFirst.com, that will serve as a hub for voters to learn more about the candidates who have committed to reform first, encourage voters to contribute to their campaigns, and spread the word about the reform first candidates on social media. ECU will spotlight the candidates for their 4 million members nationwide and connect them with the group’s more than 500,000 grassroots donors.

“We aren’t going to be able to make progress on climate change, gun violence prevention, or health care until we break big money’s stranglehold on Washington,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “Donald Trump is the most corrupt President in American history and Washington is broken. Corporate lobbyists, special interests, and complicit politicians have made Washington work great for the ultra rich and well connected, while everybody else gets left behind. Committing to reform first shows the American people you’re serious about cleaning up corruption. These candidates uniquely understand that reform is the essential first step to accomplishing the progressive change that America needs.”

The candidates who have committed to Reform First are Senator Michael Bennet, Governor Steve Bullock, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, and Senator Elizabeth Warren. ECU is the first organization to raise money for multiple presidential campaigns. In the 2018 cycle, ECU raised $44 million including $9 million for candidates it endorsed.  The group, founded in 2015, has raised more than $75 million in the last two election cycles. While ECU is not formally endorsing any candidate, it is highlighting candidates for its members who have taken this important step and encourages other candidates to join them.

In the 2018 election, ECU launched a similar initiative and helped organize a letter from 107 House challenger candidates calling for the first bill in a Democratic majority to be sweeping democracy reform.  Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed the For the People Act (H.R.1), a once-in-a-generation anti-corruption and democracy reform bill that represents the most sweeping set of campaign finance and ethics reforms passed since Watergate. The Reform First campaign will build on this momentum and encourage all candidates to put forward their own sweeping set of reforms along the lines of The For the People Act.

Learn more about the Reform First campaign at www.ReformFirst.com.