As Mitch McConnell and his Senate allies strip protections against foreign agents purchasing our presidents outright, the battle against the other major pillars of Republican corruption continues. McClatchy reports that two of the most formidable voting rights groups in the nation, End Citizens United and Let America Vote, are now combining into one joint PAC.
End Citizens United is a high-profile group formed in response to, of course, the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that vastly expanded the ability of corporations to finance their own efforts to elect their preferred U.S. lawmakers. They have spent heavily to oppose ballot initiatives aimed at stemming the new influx of dark money and to boost the efforts of candidates that support them. Let America Vote's focus has been on fighting Republican voter-suppression efforts, unleashed across Republican-held states by the court's separate decision ending the Voting Rights Act’s "preclearance" requirements for states and counties with proven records of violating the voting rights of their (nonwhite) citizens. Let America Vote was the product of former Missouri Democratic Senate nominee Jason Kander, who, McClatchy reports, will cease to hold an official position in the new, combined PAC.
Both groups seem pleased with the decision to merge, and McClatchy cites End Citizens United president Tiffany Muller as saying that the two organizations’ missions "fit really well together." Their fight will be more important than ever, now that the Senate has effectively nullified laws against campaigns soliciting—or extorting—foreign government assistance in elections outright. McConnell and his allies have pulled out all the stops in the effort to maintain power not by appealing to the nation's voters, but by sabotaging voter rights and burying the public under waves of billionaire-funded propaganda. As the Republican Party turns into a kept thing of white nationalists and America's oligarchs, it is the only way it can win.