End Citizens United’s Efforts To End The Big Money 20

End Citizens United is a political action committee dedicated to overturning the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decided on January 21, 2010. The Supreme Court essentially ruled that there is no differentiation between corporations and people when it pertains to the rights of political speech; therefore, inherently granting corporations to fund political campaigns and the pockets of elected officials.

The mission of the End Citizens United organization is to “end big money in politics and fix our rigged political system by electing campaign finance reform champions, passing state ballot measures, and electing this issue in the national conversation.”

End Citizens United is located in Washington, D.C. and their president is Tiffany Muller, former Deputy Political Director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Muller, the first openly gay public official in Kansas, has helped lead the organization to elect fifteen public officials to aid them in overturning the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United. Recently, the political action committee has endorsed Gary Turner of Wyoming for a seat in the Senate. End Citizens United fund their campaign endeavors with donations from the three million members dedicated to their cause, averaging fourteen dollars donations per member with a five thousand dollar donation cap. In 2018, End Citizens United is expecting to raise thirty-five million dollars to help elect more officials such as Turner and oppose the ‘Big Money 20’.

The Big Money 20 are Republican members of Congress who are accused of accepting substantially large donations, backing legislative efforts that either directly or indirectly benefit the donors of said large donations, or oppose efforts to reform campaign financial matters; therefore, contradicting the notion that their actions are aimed to favor the interest of their constituents rather than themselves. Accused members of the Big 20 include Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, House of Representative Speaker Paul Ryan, as well as congressional representatives from Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, California, and Minnesota. End Citizens United endorses congressional candidates like Gary Turner to oppose members of the Big Money 20 while in Congress.