A disturbing trend has emerged in our elections: Fewer and fewer races are truly competitive, but the ones that are see a surge of spending by outside groups. As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and a related lower court ruling, outside groups are increasingly outspending candidates’ own campaigns, according to a new Issue One analysis
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UPDATED September 27, 10am ET: Roy Moore defeated incumbent Sen. Luther Strange. He will face Democrat Dough Jones in the December 12 general election. — Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore is trying to oust incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, who was appointed to his seat in February, when President Donald Trump tapped Sen. Jeff Sessions to be his
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Members of Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus — the largest bipartisan coalition of its kind ever assembled to advocate for political reform — today joined national security experts, including former National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones, at a press conference to discuss how a stronger democracy will improve our national security. The event was held in Washington, D.C., at the Center
Read MoreThis op-ed by fmr. Gov. Thomas Kean (R-NJ) and fmr. Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN) originally appeared in The Hill. – This month, Americans should pause a moment to reflect: It has been 16 years since the devastating and tragic attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and in the 16 years since, there has not been another successful major terrorist attack on our
Read MoreEven as the United States faces threats from North Korea and terrorist groups abroad, while foreign powers such as China continue to grow in influence, the greatest threat to America’s national security is from within: the overwhelming dysfunction crippling our government. Deep divisions between the nation’s political parties, the outsized power of money and special interests in the policymaking process, a
Read MoreIn response to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) reversing its own internal policy related to legal defense funds, Issue One Chief of Policy, Programs and Strategy Meredith McGehee issued the following statement: Anonymous political donations to government sources, particularly from prohibited sources (e.g. lobbyists or those with business before the government) are a nonstarter. This move by OGE invites
Read MoreIn response to President Trump nominating Trey Trainor to be a commissioner of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Issue One Chief of Policy, Programs and Strategy Meredith McGehee released the following statement: This nomination has White House Counsel Don McGahn’s fingerprints all over it. Issue One calls on the U.S. Senate to publicly and fully vet the nomination of Texas
Read MoreIn light of recent reports that Facebook told congressional investigators they sold political ads to Russian-tied sources during the 2016 election, Issue One Chief of Policy, Programs and Strategy Meredith McGehee released the following statement: “Because the Facebook ads are not public, it is currently impossible to determine if the Russian-tied entity, the Internet Research Agency, threaded the needle described
Read MoreCongress Must Act on Honest Ads
Just as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) recently wrote about the need for Congress to act on shady dark money campaigns, ReFormers Caucus Co-chairs Amb. Tim Roemer (D-IN) and Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) take his comments one step forward: Congress must also act on foreign disinformation campaigns by passing the Honest Ads Act.
Read Amb. Roemer and Rep. Wamp’s new op-ed.
