In Their Own Words: The Candidates Empowered by the Small Donor Revolution

| |    by

In Their Own Words: The Candidates Empowered by the Small Donor Revolution

In anticipation of tomorrow’s vote to proceed on S. 1, the For the People Act, Democracy 21, in partnership with People for the American Way (PFAW) and the Declaration for American Democracy Coalition (DFAD), will be releasing a series of videos of women legislators from five different and diverse places across the United States who used small donor financing systems to run for office and win. These citizens are elected officials ranging from city council members to state representatives and senators.

The first video — released today — is here:

Stories will feature citizens from Connecticut, Arizona, Maine, Seattle, and Washington, DC.  Examples of the stories will include:

  • Representative Athena Salman, a woman of Palestinian and Mexican descent whose parents owned a small business in Arizona, and who ran for the Arizona State House as a political novice and won.
  • Seattle City Council Member Teresa Mosqueda, a third-generation Mexican American, and the daughter of educators and activists, who worked for much of her career as an advocate for access to health care, housing, and transportation among Seattle’s Latino community. She ran for Seattle City Council using public financing vouchers and won despite an onslaught of opposition funding.
  • Representative Stephanie Thomas, an African-American woman representing wealthy Connecticut towns in the Connecticut General Assembly after having grown up in poverty in Newark, New Jersey. She used the Connecticut Clean Elections system and won in a heavily Republican district.
  • DC City Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George, raised by a single mother employed by the Postal Service. She put herself through law school and ran and won using public funding after vowing never to take corporate money.
  • State Senator Chloe Maxmin, a 28-year-old from rural Maine who beat an incumbent for a seat in the State Senate while campaigning heavily on the theme of environmental justice.

Democracy 21 Vice President Matt Keller said: “These are the stories that explain why passing small-donor financing will make real and lasting change in providing diverse opportunities for citizens to run for public office. These stories about individuals who are a direct reflection of the American people powerfully demonstrate why Congress must enact a new small donor financing system for candidates to use to run for federal office.”

“One of the biggest problems facing our democracy is that billionaires have far too much say in who can run—and who can win. Small donor financing programs ensure that candidates who look out for all Americans have a fighting chance to win,” said Ben Jealous, President of People for the American Way. “I’m proud that members of our Young Elected Officials network have been able to use these game-changing programs to get into office and truly represent their constituents. Their stories, in their own words, are an inspiration.”

“Small donor matching, modeled after successful systems in cities and states across the country, will empower regular Americans to have a meaningful voice in our democracy and reduce the influence of special interests,” said Jana Morgan, Director of the Declaration for American Democracy. “Changing the way we fund our elections will also open up our political system to allow more people from diverse backgrounds to run and win competitive campaigns for office. In the last four elections, only 20% of candidates were Americans of color. This is a racial justice issue and running for political office shouldn’t only be accessible to those with the deepest pockets.”

###