

With growing anticipation for the 2018 political midterms, Crowdpac is on a mission to bring politics back to individuals and to assist with their fundraising campaigns.

Crowdpac provides direct access to politician information, simplifying the campaign process for newcomers and connecting people to candidates who are representing their political standpoints. The CEO, Steve Hilton, believes that money supports a majority of the current issues within politics. Large cash donations continually prove to be a vital component in winning an election. “You’ve got to raise money to do your campaign,” Hilton states. “And typically, that forces you to do things and say things and take positions that are not actually what you believe.”

During the 2016 Presidential campaign, 99.31 percent of the source funds for Bernie Sanders’ campaign (229 million dollars) were funded by individual contributions. In comparison, President Trump raised 132.2 million dollars from individual contributions.

Fundraising proves to be effective and critical to the success of a campaign, even in “small amounts at the state level.” A Utah resident, Dr. Kathryn Allen, has gained over half a million dollars for the Utah 2018 primaries. Through Crowdpac, people can find easily access her fundraising profile and can endorse her campaign.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger created a fundraising profile titled, “This is our chance to make gerrymandering unconstitutional” on the organization’s website. The former California Governor has partnered with Common Cause, a nonprofit organization working to create an “accountable government that serves the public interest”.

The fundraising profile includes Schwarzenegger’s reason behind his endeavor; the Wisconsin Republican Party plans to appeal a federal order, redrawing the state’s legislative districts. In November, a federal court ruled that Wisconsin’s districts give Republicans a continual advantage in state elections and must be redrawn.

“They’ve appealed the ruling to the Supreme court,” Schwarzenegger states, “and you can bet they’ll be well financed.”

The bipartisan, fundraising goal is to make gerrymandering unconstitutional and to bring politics back to people who want legitimate candidates representing their political standpoints. The campaign has already received 902 endorsements, 584 donations, and has raised 23,194 dollars. Shwarzenegger has also pledged to match all donations.

Crowdfunding platforms such as GoFundMe and Crowdpac allow people to raise money for the campaigns, representatives and political beliefs they support. America’s political system is founded on the principles of a representative democracy. Legitimate representatives are vital to providing accurate opinions of voting citizens.

– Madison O’Connell

Photo: Flickr