A fragile moment in our democracy’s history

Just weeks ago, the Senate had the opportunity to do something big: end anonymity for big-dollar donors and dark money groups attempting to sway our elections.

This was the biggest opportunity to end the days of Citizens United protecting shady donors and corporations. Unfortunately, it should come as no surprise that Republicans BLOCKED it from moving forward.

It's very simple: I believe that the American people should decide elections, not the wealthy and well-connected.

Citizens United was a historic mistake – and multinational companies worth billions shouldn't be allowed to endlessly spend their dark money on advertising smokescreens that are skewing our elections.

But this is the reality we've faced in every election since Citizens United: out-of-control influence from shadowy groups that are hiding their true identities because, if you figured out who was really trying to skew your vote, you would rightly be extremely upset.

As with too much in life, we need to follow the money. Who stands to benefit when massive corporations (Big Pharma, Big Oil, and the like) can spend unlimited amounts while hiding what they're doing from the American people?

I've been fighting tooth and nail to get ironclad legislation across the finish line because this cannot go on. Our democracy is at a fragile moment in its history, where influence is being gobbled up by fewer and fewer people spending more and more money.

Citizens United is at the heart of that struggle – and every politician who continues to undermine our efforts to get this right. We must overturn it.

On November 8, Election Day, we have a remarkable opportunity to take arguably our biggest step toward fixing this historic problem. If Democrats keep the House and win just a few more Senate seats, I believe we'll have a very real chance to get dark money out of our elections.

The work's already begun. Let's close it out in these final 26 days before Election Day.

Ron