Profiles

End Citizens United

End Citizens United (ECU) is an American political action committee based in Washington, D.C. It is the sister organization of the End Citizens United Action Fund, and is affiliated with Let America Vote and Fight for Reform.^[1]

History

End Citizens United was incorporated in the District of Columbia on April 24, 2015,^[2] founded by Greg Berlin, Jake Lipsett and Charles Starnes.^[3] The organization was officially launched in August 2015 with plans to fund Democratic Party candidates for the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate in the 2016 United States presidential election. In the longer term, ECU sought to pass an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to reverse Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a 2010 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States which gave rise to super political action committees (super PACs).^[4]

During the 2016 election, ECU partnered with Ready for Hillary, gaining access to the latter's mailing list of upwards of 4 million people. ECU endorsed Russ Feingold and Michael Bennet in their Congressional races, and officially endorsed Hillary Clinton on July 20, 2016.^[4:1]^[5]

In January 2020, ECU merged with Let America Vote.^[6]

2024 presidential election

In late 2023, End Citizens United participated in a call organized by Third Way during which a "broad anti-Trump coalition" developed plans to oppose No Labels in their bid to run a third-party candidate during the 2024 United States presidential election. Other attendees included Sarah Longwell, Bill Kristol, Doug Jones, and Reid Hoffman aide Dmitri Mehlhorn, along with representatives from MoveOn, the Lincoln Project, American Bridge 21st Century, Public Citizen and Reproductive Freedom for All.^[7]

End Citizens United filed complaints against No Labels with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and 27 states in order to pressure the organization to reveal its donors.^[8] On January 11, 2024, No Labels wrote a letter to the United States Department of Justice alleging that End Citizens United and its collaborators had unduly interfered with its efforts to get on the ballot in the 2024 election.^[9]

Organization

End Citizens United has been a client of 270 Strategies,^[10] Blue Wave Political Partners^[11] and Elias Law Group.^[12]

Personnel

The team at End Citizens United is made up of "veteran Democratic operatives."^[13]^[14]

Name	Position	Notes
Greg Berlin	Co-Founder^[3:1]	Mothership Strategies, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)
Jake Lipsett	Co-Founder^[3:2]	Mothership Strategies, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)
Charles Starnes	Co-Founder^[3:3]	Mothership Strategies, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)
Tiffany Muller	President^[15]	Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)
Jessica Adair	Political Director (former)^[16]	Stand Up America
Reed Adamson	Senior Advisor^[4:2]	Silversmith Strategies
Sam Amofah	Compliance Assistant	-
Ali Anderson	Regional Political Director	International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Mark Andrews	Deputy Director of Compliance and Operations	-
Jonelle Bailey	Research Coordinator	EMILY's List
Ron Barber	Board Member	United States House of Representatives
Maddie Beckenholdt	Deputy Development Director	Los Angeles County Democratic Party (LACDP)
Amanda Bogden	Chief Operating Officer	Raffa
Adam Bozzi	Vice President for Communications (former)	Anticipate Public Affairs
Patrick Burgwinkle	Communications Director (former)	Stellar Development Foundation
Richard Carbo	Communications Director^[4:3]	-
Kimberly Coleman	Treasurer^[17]	-
Chris deLaubenfels	General Counsel and Legal Director	United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
Jonas Edwards-Jenks	Communications Director	Everytown for Gun Safety
Lanae Erickson	Board Member	Third Way
Karen Finney	Board Member	CNN
Sebastian Franco	Research Associate (former)	Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange
Justin Gibbs-Poe	Digital and Communications Assistant	Let America Vote
Amanda Hills	Political Coordinator (former)	University of Pennsylvania Health System
Anatolia Hodson	Deputy Digital Director	Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)
Whitney James	Development Assistant	ClearPath Strategies
Ally Johnson	Research Associate (former)	-
Lynn Jorden	Independent Expenditure Director	Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)
Jason Kander	Board Member	Veterans Community Project
Devin Kiernan	Executive Assistant (former)	Breakwater Strategy (BWS)
Dalit Kluger	Executive Coordinator	Iowa Democratic Party
Andrew Laskar	National Finance Director (former)	Granite Values PAC
N.V. Macek	Digital Director	Battleground Texas
Valerie Martin	Senior Advisor^[4:4]	Claire McAskill
Christopher Massicotte	Board Member	DSPolitical
Matt Morrison	Board Member	Working America
Jody Murphy	Vice President for Independent Expenditures (former)	-
Rajan Narang	Director of State and Local Campaigns (former)	Shakti Campaigns
Jaycie Owens	Finance Assistant (former)	Office of the Colorado State Public Defender
Joe Radosevich	Political Director (former)	Center for American Progress (CAP)
George Roderick	State and Local Campaigns Coordinator (former)	Democracy Fund
Bawadden Sayed	Deputy Communications Director	Angus King
Dorothy Scheeline	Research Director (former)	Legal Aid DC
Grace Silva	Press Secretary	Democratic Party of Wisconsin
Bill Smith	Board Member	Civitas Public Affairs Group
Rushad Thomas	Legislative Affairs Director	Third Way
Justine Turner	Political Director	iHeartMedia
Jessica Vanden Berg	Board Member	New Leaders Council (NLC)
Simone L. Ward	Board Member	Democratic National Committee (DNC)
Brian Wietgrefe	Research Director	ProgressNow

Funding

Donors to End Citizens United include:^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21]

Adelaide Gomer
Allen Blue
Austin Fite
Barbara Tyson
Bruce Golden
Cameron Freres
Charles Bronfman
Clark Colton
Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC^[22]
Courtney B. Vance
Deborah Simon
Delma Wickham-Smith
Diane Meyer Simon
DigiDems
Don Henley
End Citizens United Action Fund
Foundation for National Progress
George Soros^[23]
Ibrahim AlHusseini
International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART)^[24]
Janet Meiselman
Jonathan Soros
Joss Whedon
Kelly Bronfman
Mark S. Komrad
Maya Garcia
Nancy Nordhoff
Nelson Rising
Penny Torres-Spinnler
Rosemary Pritzker
Scott Shenker
Tim Disney
Vin Ryan
Vint Cerf
William Buffett
William Danforth

ECU also raises money through the End Citizens United Senate Defense Fund.

Expenditures

Individuals and companies hired by End Citizens United include:^[25]^[26]^[27]^[28]^[29]

ActBlue
Blueprint Interactive
Change.org
End Citizens United Action Fund
EveryAction
Fidelity Investments
Global Strategy Group
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQR)
John Hlinko Consulting
LHREV Washington M Street
LSQ Funding Group
Message Digital
Mission Control
MissionWired
Mothership Strategies
Mundy Katowitz Media
Paychex
Pivot Group
Rising Tide Interactive
Sage Media Planning & Placement
Sapphire Strategies
Screen Strategies Media
Silversmith Strategies^[16:1]
TargetSmart
Tatango
Trilogy Interactive
Wavelength Strategy
Well & Lighthouse
Wildfire Contact

Political contributions

End Citizens United has provided funding to the following candidates, parties and political action committees:^[30]^[24:1]^[31]^[22:1]^[32]

Arizona Democratic Party
Asian American Action Fund (AAAFund)
Asian American and Pacific Islanders Rising and Empowering Political Action Committee (ASPIRE PAC)
Blue Leadership Collaborative (BLC)
Blue Wave Project
BOLD PAC
California Democratic Party
The Collective PAC
Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee (CBC PAC)
Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC
Defend the Vote
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)
Democratic Executive Committee of Florida
Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund
Democratic National Committee (DNC)
Democratic Party of Illinois
Democratic Party of New Mexico
Democratic Party of Virginia
Democratic Party of Wisconsin
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)
Elect Democratic Women
EMILY's List
Equality PAC
Every Voice Action
Follow the North Star Fund
Future Forum PAC
Georgia Senate Victory Fund
Hillary Action Fund
House Majority PAC
Human Rights Campaign
Indiana Democratic Congressional Victory Committee
Iowa Democratic Party
Iowa Grassroots Victory Fund
Jobs, Education, & Families First (JEFF PAC)
Justice Unites Us PAC
Kansas Democratic Party
Keep GA06 Blue
Latino Victory Fund
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund
Life of the Party
Liftoff PAC
Maine Democratic Party
Michigan Democratic State Central Committee
Michigan Forward Action
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL)
Missouri Democratic Party
Montana Democratic Party
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC)
National Democratic Training Committee (NDTC)
Nevada State Democratic Party
New Hampshire Democratic Party (NHDP)
New Jersey Democratic State Committee
New Jersey Dems Victory Fund
New York State Democratic Committee
North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP)
Oceans PAC
Off the Sidelines
Ohio Democratic Party
OK-05 Victory Fund
PAC to the Future
Pennsylvania Democratic Party
Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC)
Purpose PAC
Rhode Island Democratic Party
Rhode Island Victory Fund 2018
Service First PAC
South Carolina Democratic Party (SCDP)
Texas Democratic Party
Truth to Power
Turquoise PAC
VoteVets
Washington State Democratic Central Committee
Young Democrats of America (YDA)
Zinc Collective

Publications

June 6, 2024: "End Citizens United Slams RFK Jr. After Report of Extortion and Potential Campaign Finance Violations"
June 13, 2024: "RFK Jr. Exploiting Campaign Finance Laws to Play Spoiler in Presidential Election"

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