America turns 250 this year – and our body politic has never been sicker. We suffer from a seemingly incurable disease called Citizens United.
Its symptoms are everywhere: paralysis in Congress, waning public trust and an economy that feels thoroughly rigged.
Maybe it’s deadly – but we’re not dead yet.
A field test in New York
My congressional campaign is a clinical trial in New York City: a test of whether basic medicine can immunize an infected political machine.
But how did we get infected in the first place?
The Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC allowed a pathogen into the bloodstream of American democracy: unlimited, undisclosed spending by corporations and billionaires.
The court reinterpreted the First Amendment, holding that money was synonymous with freedom of speech, corporations were considered persons, and the right to free speech included the right to spend freely. This set a new balance and put a price tag on elections.
To cure the disease, we must first understand how it spreads.
How the money flows
Money flows through our politics like blood, pumped through veins and arteries and transported by two different types of “cells”: campaign contributions and independent expenditures. Donations are direct donations to an election campaign. Independent expenditures are means used by outside groups to promote or oppose a candidate or issue. Until 2010, both were subject to strict restrictions.
The court drew a clear dividing line between the two and ruled that only direct donations may be constitutionally limited. According to previous case law, First Amendment rights may only be restricted if there is a sufficient risk of harm – for example in the case of hate speech, obscenity or child pornography. Because donations go directly to candidates, they can be restricted to prevent the risk of quid pro quo corruption.
The court’s conservative 5-4 majority, however, found that independent expenditures not could be limited because there is no comparable risk. The argument: “Independent” groups are harmless – and corruption is only a risk if the candidate receives the funds directly.
This legal mutation created what we now call Super PACs: groups that make only independent expenditures, are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, often avoiding any disclosure requirements.
Two sets of rules, one system
So we ended up with an electoral system written by five unelected judges with two different sets of rules – one for you and me, one for billionaires and corporations. The maximum you can donate to a congressional candidate like me is $3,500 – and that must be disclosed. (Go ahead, try it.) A billionaire, on the other hand, can and does transfer millions to a super PAC that supports one of my opponents.
This is a farce because these “independent” groups are anything but independent. Legally, campaign teams and super PACs aren’t allowed to coordinate—but they do, and everyone knows it. Through a practice called “red-boxing,” campaigns signal their desires to super PACs by posting messages in a literal red box on their websites. Advisors move freely between campaign teams and their associated Super PACs. And now the agency that is supposed to enforce these rules – the Federal Election Commission – is effectively incapacitated by Trump-era job cuts because it no longer achieves a quorum.
Over the past 16 years, the Citizens United outbreak has spread rapidly. A look at the patient’s vital signs is enough.
Billions for influence
Since the ruling, total campaign spending per cycle has tripled to more than $16 billion, and billionaires’ share of that has risen from zero to 20 percent. In 2024, corporations pumped a record $1.8 billion into the elections, almost as much came from so-called “dark money” groups that avoid any disclosure.
So what is all this money buying?
Super PACs have brought regulatory capture into overdrive – in many cases, the industry is now self-regulating. I’m young, but old enough to remember that Elon Musk spent $288 million on Trump’s election in 2024, receiving DOGE, government contracts, and even a Tesla on the South Lawn of the White House.
The fossil fuel industry has perfected this model. In 2024 alone, it invested $450 million to re-elect Trump and a Republican Congress that subsequently slowed down American wind and solar energy and bled the EPA dry.
This year, a new variant is emerging: AI companies funneling hundreds of millions into the 2026 midterms.
A society for billionaires
In short: The spread of “Citizens United” goes hand in hand with a society made for billionaires and corporations. The richest percent of households now own a third of the national wealth. Corporate taxes are lower than ever. The richest Americans who sat behind him at Trump’s inauguration often pay zero taxes, while ordinary citizens can barely afford basic necessities.
The disease is systemic: money buys access, access buys influence, and influence rewrites the rules. Even New York City—our nation’s first capital and the birthplace of the Bill of Rights—is not immune.
I am running in the Democratic primary in New York’s 12th Congressional District. It is my home – where my family has lived for five generations – and one of the most expensive media markets in the country. Our airwaves are currently saturated with political advertising as Super PAC germs eat their way through the city.
Citizens against Citizens United
My campaign is testing a new treatment against “Citizens United”: citizens, united.
From the beginning, I was clear: I do not take money from (1) corporate PACs, (2) Super PACs, or (3) AI companies. Not because it’s easy – but because it’s necessary. The Democratic Party’s popularity is at an all-time low. We have lost control of all three branches of government and are considered by many to be out of touch. Maybe that’s because we only listen to the easy-to-reach Super PAC fruits of big donors, rather than to the broader electorate.
To win again, we must go back to our roots – that means campaigns that speak to and listen to the very people we want to represent. That’s what I’m trying to do.
I am not for sale and my hometown is not for sale. I’m proud that the average donation to our campaign is under $40 and comes from more than 50,000 people in all 50 states. We are for the people.
Anti-corruption reforms
I invited my competitors to make the same promise.
The health of our democracy will not be restored by those who profit from spreading this disease. It will be restored by those who are willing to fight it. I will do that in Congress.
To that end, here are some reforms I support to overturn Citizens United: (1) cap donations to Super PACs at $5,000, (2) enforce stricter anti-coordination rules between campaigns and Super PACs, and (3) require real-time disclosure of Super PAC donors and on paid materials. This is just a first dose – many more reforms are needed to address the broader problem of corruption in Washington.
If we – citizens, united against “Citizens United” – can win in the toughest primary in the country, we won’t just win. We prove there is a cure.
At 250 years old, the United States of America doesn’t need a eulogy. You need a treatment plan.
Refuse the infection. Help prove that our country can still heal. Believe in something again.
