In a year of spectacular firsts, America outdid itself again in the realm of campaign finance. Spending in the 2020 election reached $14.4 billion, more than doubling the record set in 2016. According to OpenSecrets, a number of additional records comprise this whopping $14.4 billion total: President Biden’s campaign became the first presidential campaign to… Read more
GameStop, Reddit, and Wall Street’s Disrupted Status Quo
Posted
Last month was nothing short of a whirlwind in a year full of chaos. Insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, a new president was inaugurated, and the House passed a historic second impeachment. One of the most surprising events in January, however, happened outside of D.C. In what many are calling an unprecedented event, ordinary Americans took… Read more
BREAKING: Virginia Becomes 22nd State to Support Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United
Posted
BREAKING NEWS: Yesterday, Virginia became the 22nd state to pass a resolution supporting an amendment overturning Citizens United. Thanks to the efforts of the Virginia Chapter of American Promise, Take Back Our Republic, Public Citizen, People For The American Way, Free Speech For People, Common Cause, and Virginians across the political spectrum, the Virginia legislature… Read more
The Beginning of the End for Corporate Campaign Spending?
Posted
The events of January 6th shook our country to its core. Hundreds of rioters stormed the Capitol, endangering the lives of Members of Congress, their staffers, and Capitol Police in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Despite the violence, some Republicans still chose to contest the results when Congress reconvened that… Read more
It’s Not Over Yet: House Re-Introduces the For The People Act
Posted
A new session of Congress kicked off with the introduction of For The People Act (H.R.1), a landmark bill designed to fix our broken political system, including campaign finance, voting rights, and public accountability. The bill was introduced on January 4th by Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland and co-sponsored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and… Read more
VICTORY: Alaska becomes the 21st state calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens United
Posted
On November 3rd Alaskans made history. In a tight vote, Alaska approved Ballot Measure No. 2, a suite of democracy reforms that will make both state and federal elections fairer, more transparent, and more accessible. Among them, a call for a new constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. “These mistaken Supreme Court decisions have invalidated… Read more
Florida’s Dark Money Dark Horse
Posted
In America’s two-party system, the presence of third-party candidates is often met with mixed responses. Often, when a third-party candidate with a similar platform to a major-party candidate enters a race, they cause division among voters, resulting in a win for the opposition. Case in point: Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election, or Eliot… Read more
The Modern Voting Rights Movement
Posted
100 years ago this week, the Tennessee House of Representatives made history when it became the deciding state to ratify the 19th Amendment, prohibiting voter discrimination on the basis of sex. Nearly 50 years after the Seneca Falls Convention, white women gained the right to vote in U.S. elections. It would still be many years… Read more
We Need Diverse Leaders. Public Campaign Financing is Part of the Solution.
Posted
The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other people of color have led to a watershed moment in American history. For the first time in more than 50 years, Americans are taking a hard look at the lengths to which racism still poisons the land of the free. The… Read more
Elections and the HEROES Act
Posted
Last month, we watched as Wisconsin attempted to conduct its primaries as usual. The results were disastrous. The Wisconsin Department of Health traced 52 cases of COVID-19 back to in-person voting on April 7. Meanwhile, each state has approached its response to the coronavirus differently, its voting systems included. Enter Congress and the HEROES Act.… Read more