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If Congress drags, make it an election issue in 2026 – candidates of both parties vow to pass the ban, pressuring incumbents.
If Congress keeps stalling, make a clean stock-trading ban a defining 2026 pledge and back candidates who will vote for it. This strategy funds compliant voter outreach that rewards champions and raises the electoral cost of delay, then shifts quickly to post-election accountability. The goal is to change incentives so passage becomes the safer political choice.
Why this works
- Given voter support, politicians will compete to be on the right side.
- Already, some 2024 Congressional challengers ran on this (“My incumbent trades stocks – I’ll ban it”).
- If a ban hasn’t passed by the next election, turning it into a campaign promise will create a new class of lawmakers in 2027 absolutely mandated to do it.
- This threat can incentivize current members to act sooner (incumbents would prefer to do it now and take credit, rather than be hammered for inaction).
- We saw something similar with insider trading reforms after 2008, it became a campaign issue which forced action.
End Citizens United is a political action committee founded in 2015 with the mission of countering the influence of big money in politics and overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. It works to elect pro-democracy candidates who support campaign finance reform and anti-corruption measures:. End Citizens United raises grassroots donations and runs independent expenditures to help reform-minded candidates win office, thereby advancing policies like banning congressional stock trading and increasing political spending transparency.
Mechanism
How End Citizens United uses funding
- Select winnable races where ethics and trust are salient and the ban is a clear differentiator.
- Use the right vehicle (often a PAC) with strict compliance and non-coordination guardrails.
- Develop messaging that frames the ban as basic accountability and sets a clear standard for what counts.
- Run voter programs (field, mail, digital) that help aligned candidates win.
- Track primary and general milestones and adjust targeting as the cycle evolves.
- After the election, shift to governance by pressing winners to co-sponsor and vote, and report progress publicly.
Partner notes
Partner notes coming soon.