RepresentUs

The American Anti-Corruption Act is a set of comprehensive reforms applicable at the city, county, state or federal levels. They curtail the undue influence of special interests, end gerrymandering, and change how we vote so that independent and third party candidates can run without being vilified as "spoilers". While the entire Act is too broad to pass in one single statute, taken together its components fix the root cause of our current crisis, and restore the public interest — rather than special interests — as the first priority of our government and elected representatives.

The American Anti-Corruption Act enjoys support from 9 out of 10 Americans — across the political spectrum. But congressional leaders from both parties fail to pass meaningful reform when they’re in power. So we need to go around Congress, following in the footsteps of movements that came before us.

Major political movements, when facing insurmountable odds in Washington, focused on amassing state-level victories that paved the way for a change in federal law. In the wake of 2018’s historic wave of victories, we're seeding and supporting the next round of anti-corruption ballot initiatives and legislative reform campaigns in the states, working with local leaders to push this issue closer to a tipping point.

At the same time, we’re mobilizing a grassroots movement at historic scale and leveraging its power to pass impactful reforms. But we must build more than a political movement. It must be a cultural movement that shows Americans how fixing the corrupt political system improves their lives. We’re creating on-ramps for millions, engaging them in campaigns, and restoring the belief that America’s government can be a force for good.

Our political strategy is based on the most successful movements of the 21st century: from marriage equality on the left to gun rights on the right. These campaigns – as well as historic efforts like women's suffrage and interracial marriage – went around Congress to pass ballot initiatives, lobby local councils and legislatures, file legal challenges, and redraw the map of America. However, bottom-up advocacy on this issue is not new. What's new is our three key innovations:

1. Reframe the issue.
Most people believe that government is broken and corrupt – yet instead of meeting them where they are, for decades, reformers have thrown around obscure political jargon like “campaign finance," “democracy reform" and “instant runoff voting." RepresentUs engages new audiences by using relatable and inspirational language.

2. Bring conservatives and progressives together.
Americans self-identify as 36% conservative, 34% moderate, and only 25% liberal (plus 5% “Other") Historically, democracy reform has been driven exclusively by progressives. But you don't make sea changes with 25% of the electorate. Our campaign features highly visible right-left influencers and coalitions to inoculate from partisan and ideological opposition attacks as we unite all voters behind reform.

3. Win across issues.
We’re ending the era of siloed reform efforts. Campaign finance, ethics, transparency, and election reform are all central to unrigging the system but have never been integrated into a coordinated campaign. RepresentUs advocates for victories large and small across any and all of these issue areas.

Today, RepresentUs is America’s leading right-left anti-corruption organization. We’re supported by more than 55,000 grassroots donors, philanthropists, and charitable foundations from across the political spectrum. With more than 800,000 members and more than 100 victories behind us, including America's first municipal Anti-Corruption Act in 2014 and first statewide Act in 2016, we are already winning. With each victory, we battle the public perception that change is impossible, and pass laws that effectively fight corruption and usher in a new era of solutions-oriented governance. RepresentUs has over 40 full time experts and organizers, and an august group of business and entertainment leaders who are leading this strategy along with veteran CEO and co-founder Josh Silver. Our board boasts tech entrepreneurs, marketing experts, celebrities, and renowned business leaders. We have over 50 local chapters with active constituencies and influence. We have best-of-breed marketing, social media and messaging to recruit, mobilize and amplify the voices of activists working to fix our democracy.

In November 2014, a coalition of RepresentUs members in Tallahassee, Florida led by the Florida Tea Party on the Right, and FL Common Cause on the Left, put America's first Anti-Corruption Act on the ballot. They had no budget for paid advertising or marketing, but the initiative passed by an overwhelming 2-to-1 margin. The victories have been snowballing ever since. In the past three years, RepresentUs members – working in diverse partnerships – have passed 60 non-binding resolutions and 9 binding anti-corruption laws.

In 2018, our movement passed 23 transformative anti-corruption laws—from anti-gerrymandering and ranked choice voting to sweeping ethics and transparency laws. That's more than in any other year in our nation’s history.

RepresentUs members helped win 14 of the 25 Anti-Corruption victories this year, including joining a coalition of reformers to pass Ranked Choice Voting in New York and triple the number of Americans using RCV. Our members sent 600,000 texts to voters. We ran the digital campaign and provided celebrity spokespeople and policy support.

In 2020, we’ll tackle eight states. By 2022, we’ll carry the drumbeat to dozens more to push our nation to a tipping point on this critical issue. Plus, as we pursue our own targets, we'll leverage the power of our national grassroots network to help our partners win scores of additional victories.