“In order to overcome the greatest challenges we face, we must first fix our democracy and return power to people. That’s why I’m committed to finally banning PAC contributions so we get big money out of politics. I have also committed to increasing participation in our democracy through automatic and same-day voter registration, removing barriers in our democracy by strengthening the Voting Rights Act, and rebuilding confidence in our democracy by ending gerrymandering, stopping the revolving door between Capitol Hill and lobbying offices, and ensuring we have a government for the people not for special interests. I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue working with End Citizens United members across the country as we deliver on this urgent agenda.” Beto O’Rourke

Leading by Example:

Rejects contributions from PACs

Rejects contributions from federal lobbyists

Rejects contributions from the fossil fuel industry

Rejects help from a single-candidate Super PAC

Policy Positions:

Supports banning PAC contributions to congressional candidates

Supports overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision

Supports requiring dark money groups to disclose their donors

Supports small-donor public financing programs

Supports requiring ad spending disclosure on social media platforms

Supports banning former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists

Background on Reform:

From his time in the House of Representatives, to his Senate and presidential campaigns, Beto O’Rourke has fought to reduce the influence of special interest spending and get money out of politics. O’Rourke was one of the only members of Congress to reject all PAC money, and encouraged others to do the same by co-founding the House “No PAC” caucus. In his campaigns for Senate and the presidency, he continued to honor his “No PAC” pledge, saying that “our campaign is powered not by PACs, but by people.”

In 2017, he introduced two bills to reduce the influence of special interests and bring more transparency to campaign contributions. The first bill, the No PAC Act, would prohibit congressional candidates from accepting campaign contributions from all PACs and prohibit members of Congress from creating Leadership PACs. The second, the Real Time Transparency Act, which would require all campaign contributions of $1,000 or more to be reported and published within 48-hours. O’Rourke also co-sponsored the Government by the People Act, legislation to create a small-donor matching program for Congressional elections, during every session of Congress he served.

Since announcing his candidacy for president, O’Rourke has stated that fixing our democracy is “fundamental to being able to get any other change that you want to accomplish.” He has released a series of proposals to get money out of politics and ensure our government works for the people as part of his broader voting rights plan.

“The whole heart of our campaign is you return power to people, you make sure you don’t take PAC money you don’t have gerrymandering, you have people reflected in the policies we pursue and when you do that you can move forward on universal guaranteed high quality healthcare you can afford your prescription medication, healthcare no longer becomes a function of privilege or luck or circumstance but a basic right you can depend on,” — Fmr. Rep. Beto O’Rourke