{{Short description|American political action committee}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox organization | name = End Citizens United | native_name = | native_name_lang = | named_after = | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | logo = End Citizens United logo.svg | logo_size = | logo_upright = 0.7 | logo_alt = | logo_caption = | map = | map_size = | map_alt = | map_caption = | map2 = | map2_size = | map2_alt = | map2_caption = | abbreviation = | predecessor = | merged_into = | successor = | formation = {{start date and age|2015}}<ref name="msnbc">{{Cite web |url=https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/end-citizens-united-pac-wants-make-its-name-reality |title=End Citizens United PAC wants to make its name a reality |website=MSNBC |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref> | founder = | founding_location = | extinction = | merger = | type = | tax_id = | registration_id = | status = | purpose = | headquarters = Washington, D.C. | location = | coordinates = | region_served = | services = | products = | methods = | fields = | membership = | num_members_year = | language = | owner = | secretary_general = | leader_title = President and executive director | leader_name = Tiffany Muller<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/End-Citizens-United-aggressively-seeks-campaign-8340445.php |title=End Citizens United aggressively seeks campaign finance reform |website=San Francisco Chronicle |date=6 July 2016 |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref> | leader_title2 = | leader_name2 = | leader_title3 = | leader_name3 = | leader_title4 = | leader_name4 = | board_of_directors = | key_people = | main_organ = | parent_organization = | subsidiaries = | secessions = | affiliations = | budget = | budget_year = | revenue = | revenue_year = | disbursements = | expenses = | expenses_year = | endowment = | num_staff = | num_staff_year = | num_volunteers = | num_volunteers_year = | slogan = | website = {{Official URL}} | remarks = | former_name = | footnotes = }}
'''End Citizens United''' ('''ECU''') is a political action committee in the United States.<ref name=rollcallaug>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rollcall.com/news/campaign-finance-reform-pac-wants-player-2016|title=Campaign Finance Reform PAC Wants to Be a Player in 2016|work=Roll Call|date=13 August 2015|author=Pathé, Simone}}</ref> The organization works to reverse the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 decision in ''Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission'', which deregulated limits on independent expenditure group spending for or against specific candidates.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/james-bopp-citizens-united/ |title=The conservative lawyer who brought you Citizens United is back for Round II |website=Mother Jones |language=en-US |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref> It is focused on driving larger campaign donations out of politics, with the goal of electing "campaign-finance reform champions" to Congress by contributing to and raising money for these candidates, as well as running independent expenditures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dem group urges candidates to campaign against money in politics |url=http://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/election/article167511592.html |access-date=2017-11-06 |website=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |language=en}}</ref>
==History== End Citizens United was founded in 2015, operating in its first election cycle during 2016 with more than $25 million in funding.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/12/05/democratic-pac-end-citizens-united-names-big-money-20-targets-2018/918680001/ |title=Democratic PAC End Citizens United names 'Big Money 20' targets for 2018 |website=USA Today |language=en |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref>
The organization has endorsed Democratic candidates such as Zephyr Teachout,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/PAC-poll-Teachout-leads-Faso-by-three-points-in-10416263.php |title=PAC poll: Teachout leads Faso by three points in NY-19 |website=Times Union |date=27 October 2016 |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref> Hillary Clinton,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rollcall.com/news/end-citizens-united-pac-endorses-clinton |title=End Citizens United PAC Endorses Clinton |last=Garcia |first=Eric |date=2016-07-20 |website=Roll Call |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref> Russ Feingold,<ref name=msnbc/> Beto O'Rourke,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2017/06/26/funded-anti-citizens-united-group-backs-orourke-senate-challenge-cruz |title=Well-funded anti-Citizens United group backs O'Rourke in Senate challenge against Cruz |date=2017-06-26 |website=Dallas News |language=en |access-date=2017-11-06 |archive-date=2018-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715235957/https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2017/06/26/funded-anti-citizens-united-group-backs-orourke-senate-challenge-cruz |url-status=dead }}</ref> Elizabeth Warren,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/655892/end-citizens-united-backs-warren |title=End Citizens United Backs Warren |website=National Journal |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref> and Jon Ossoff.<ref name=thehill/> For the 2016 election, it was one of the largest outside groups funding the campaigns of U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan and Catherine Cortez Masto, spending a combined $4.4 million on the races.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.opensecrets.org/races/outside-spending?cycle=2016&id=NHS1&spec=N |title=New Hampshire Senate Race |website=OpenSecrets |language=en |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref> By mid-2017, End Citizens United had raised more than $7.5 million from grassroots donations, and planned to raise $35 million for the 2018 election cycle.<ref name=thehill>{{Cite web |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/340745-campaign-finance-reform-group-raises-34m-in-second-quarter/ |title=Campaign finance reform group raises $3.4M in second quarter |last=Mali |first=Meghashyam |date=2017-07-06 |website=The Hill |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref>
During the 2018 elections, End Citizens United organized a no corporate PAC pledge, and around 185 Democratic candidates agreed not to take corporate PAC money, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cory Booker, and Kamala Harris.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Cracks Emerge in No Corporate PAC Money Movement|url=https://readsludge.com/2020/12/03/cracks-emerge-in-no-corporate-pac-money-movement/|access-date=2021-02-05|website=Sludge|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Godfrey|first=Elaine|date=2018-08-23|title=Why So Many Democratic Candidates Are Dissing Corporate PACs|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/why-so-many-democratic-candidates-are-ditching-corporate-pacs/568267/|access-date=2021-02-05|website=The Atlantic|language=en}}</ref>
==Criticism== End Citizens United has received criticism from other campaign reform groups over their aggressive fundraising tactics.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blumenthal |first=Paul |last2=HuffPost |date=2016-04-21 |title=This Group Raised $11 Million To Defeat Citizens United. So Why Do People Hate Them? |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/end-citizens-united-pac-campaign-finance-reform_n_570e5308e4b0ffa5937da409 |access-date=2025-08-20 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref> In early 2018, an anonymous U.S.-based contractor paid at least 3,800 micro job workers to manipulate search results when people searched for the PAC via Google, to remove a negative ''HuffPost'' article from the front page of Google's search results.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thorburn-Winsor |first1=Alexander |last2=Blumenthal |first2=Paul |date=November 1, 2018 |title=Someone Paid Thousands Of Foreigners 20 Cents Each To Hide HuffPost's Negative Coverage Of A Democratic PAC |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/end-citizens-united-microworkers-campaign_us_5bd8b5bce4b0da7bfc14afd0 |website=HuffPost}}</ref>
== See also ==
* Campaign finance reform in the United States
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Official website}} *[https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00573261 OpenSecrets.org Summary]
Category:United States political action committees Category:Campaign finance reform in the United States