Issue One updates

Issue One’s Meredith McGehee and Elise Wirkus named among top grassroots lobbyists of 2020 by The Hill


Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee and Legislative Affairs Manager Elise Wirkus were named among the top grassroots lobbyists in Washington, D.C., by The Hill newspaper this week. The Hill’s list recognizes those lobbyists who “wielded their clout and knowledge most effectively” in 2020. 

This is Wirkus’ first time on The Hill’s annual list of top lobbyists and McGehee’s 14th appearance.

Throughout 2020, Issue One made substantial contributions to the bipartisan fights for safe and secure elections as well as meaningful government reform, successfully working across the aisle in hyperpartisan times.

Among Issue One’s accomplishments this year are helping to secure $400 million in assistance for states to hold safe and secure elections and working with the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, which passed nearly 100 bipartisan recommendations to improve the functioning and efficiency of Congress. 

Issue One also worked with Reps. Ben Cline (R-VA) and Dean Phillips (D-MN) to introduce the Lobbying Disclosure Reform Act — a bill that seeks to be the first substantive bipartisan update of the Lobbying Disclosure Act in more than a decade — and helped successfully push the House Democratic Caucus to join House Republicans in making their caucus rules public.