Politics

Democrats Endorsed By ‘End Citizens United’ Benefit Majorly From Super PACs

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Democrats endorsed by the anti-super PAC group “End Citizens United” benefitted from almost $10 million from super PAC spending supporting them, according to Federal Election Commission data.

Seventeen incumbent House candidates endorsed by the group for 2018 had $20,000 or more in super PAC spending supporting them in the 2016 election cycle, with 15 of those candidates benefitting from more than $50,000 in spending, according to FEC data. Two of the candidates had over $1 million in super PAC spending benefiting them.

Super PAC Contributions Less Than $1,000,000

Super PAC Contributions More Than $1,000,000

Of the 54 House incumbents endorsed in 2018 by End Citizens United who did not receive over $20,000 in super PAC money in the 2016 election cycle, only one had a race labeled as anything other than “safely democratic,” according to Ballotpedia.

In contrast, of the 17 who had more than $20,000 of super PAC money in their support, seven had 2016 races labeled as “battleground” or “race to watch” by Ballotpedia.

Florida Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy said she would support a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizen’s United decision in a questionnaire by End Citizens United filled out in March 2017. Super PACs spent over $4 million dollars on Murphy in the 2016 election cycle. She won her election against incumbent Republican John Mica by 2 percent.

“We’ll show elected officials, candidates, voters, and the press that the grassroots are fighting back with force against the increasing brazenness of billionaires trying to buy our elections,” End Citizens United wrote on its website.

End Citizens United is a political action committee founded in March 2015 “To end Big Money in politics.” The group raised over $18 million in the 2018 election cycle so far, according to data from the FEC.

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