Campaign Finance Reform & Elections

The Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision has let unrestricted corporate spending creep into our electoral system. During the 2016 election cycle, a total of $6.4 billion was spent on campaigns. I oppose the flawed Citizens United ruling because it gives an unfair financial advantage to large corporations during our elections.

In Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required some jurisdictions to receive federal preclearance before enacting changes to voting laws.

Since these rulings, dirty maps, dirty money and voter suppression has flooded our election system. I am devoted to working toward an election system that is open and fair for all Americans. This system must be by Americans and for Americans, free of interference from foreign adversaries who would seek to influence our elections for their own gain.

What I am Doing for You

I cosponsored and voted for H.R. 4617, the Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting Democracy (SHIELD) Act, which passed in the House.This bill would strengthen existing laws to protect U.S. elections against foreign interference. Specifically, it would create a duty to report illicit offers of campaign assistance from foreign governments and their agents, improve transparency of online political advertisements, close loopholes that allow foreign nationals and foreign governments to spend in U.S. elections, restrict exchanges of campaign information between candidates and foreign governments and their agents, and prohibit deceptive practices regarding voting procedures.

I’m an original cosponsor of and voted for H.R. 1, the For the People Act, which passed in the House. This bill makes it easier, not harder, to vote by implementing automatic voter registration, requiring early voting and vote by mail, committing Congress to reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act, and ensures the integrity of our elections by modernizing and strengthening our voting systems and ending partisan redistricting. The bill curbs big money’s influence by requiring all political organizations to disclose large donors, updating political advertisement laws for the digital age, establishing a public matching system for citizen-owned elections, and revamping the Federal Election Commission to ensure there’s a cop on the campaign finance beat. And H.R. 1 takes real action to “drain the swamp” by extending conflict-of-interest laws to the President and Vice President and requiring the release of their tax returns, closing loopholes that let former members of Congress avoid cooling-off periods for lobbying, breaking the revolving door between industry and the federal government, and establishing a code of conduct for the Supreme Court.

I pushed for fairness and transparency by introducing H.R. 2424, the Duty to Report Act, which would require federal candidates, their families, and their campaigns to inform the FBI of any efforts by a foreign power to provide dirt on the candidate's opponent. For years, America has helped protect against terrorist attacks by telling Americans, “If you see something, say something.” The same should go for protecting our elections against foreign interference.

I also introduced H.R. 2853, the Corporate Duty to Report Act, which would make it a crime for a corporation to knowingly receive funds for an independent expenditure or electioneering communication from a foreign national without reporting this to the FBI. It also would be a civil violation for a corporation which knowingly receives money to run a political communication to fail to ask whether the communication counts as an independent expenditure or electioneering and, if it is, whether the person making the disbursement is a foreign national.