• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Big Picture>
  3. hr 1>

First HR 1 ad campaign is about keeping purple district Democrats in the fold

David Hawkings
February 03, 2021

The uphill climb to enact HR 1, legislation that's become the democracy reform Holy Grail, won't begin for weeks. But advocates have already decided they need to buck up and provide cover to their most loyal congressional allies — Democrats in the House.

Good-government and progressive groups will start spending $1.3 million on Wednesday to press 18 lawmakers, all of whom just survived intense and expensive re-election challenges, to continue supporting the measure. They all voted for the bill when it first passed two years ago.

The advertising campaign is a clear signal that lobbying for the measure will be sustained and expansive, on the one hand, but also the freshest of several signs that the legislation's prospects are very far from guaranteed.


Although federal lawmaking is now entirely under the control of HR 1's Democratic authors, the party's narrow margin of control in the House is the smallest since World War II — just five seats. If Republicans remain unified against the bill, which seems very likely to be the case, passage will require 98 percent buy-in from the other side.

To boost those prospects, the groups are buying 30-second TV ads and 15-second digital spots designed to reach into districts in 14 states that look to be purple again in 2022, not only because of redistricting but also because history shows the midterm after a new president takes office benefits the party out of the White House.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Assuming House passage, the package would then be at least assured of consideration in the newly Democratic Senate, where leaders have signaled their enthusiasm by labeling their companion bill S 1. But the legislation faces no chance of passage unless the party decides to curtail if not altogether eliminate the legislative filibuster in order to advance its priorities just on party lines.

That is a topic of intense debate within the Democratic ranks, and it won't be decided for a couple of months at the earliest — after final disposition of President Biden's top legislative priority, his $1.9 trillion economic rescue package. That bill could be enacted under special rules that don't require the usual 60 Senate votes.

The bill amounts to a sweeping overhaul of campaign finance, election and government ethics laws — including a new system of public financing and enhanced donor disclosures for presidential and congressional campaigns; mandates that politically independent panels control redistricting in every state; and national requirements for no-excuse voting by mail, stiffened election security, generous early in-person voting timetables and streamlined registration processes.

Democratic proponents argue that the complexities and vagaries in the state-by-state patchwork system — exposed to new scrutiny during an election in a nationwide pandemic and former President Donald Trump's lies about election fraud — should be significantly reduced in order to prevent voter suppression and boost confidence in the political system's fairness.

Republican opponents flatly disagree, arguing that states should retain their high level of authority over how their elections are run. They also assert the largely deregulated money-in-politics system should be left alone or else freedom of political speech would be stifled.

"You can't fix a corrupt system without shaking things up," counters the script of many of the TV ads, which is why the lawmaker on screen voted for HR 1 in 2019 and now "has a chance to pass the most comprehensive anti-corruption legislation in decades. To get dark money out of politics. Strengthen our ethics laws. And make both parties accountable to us again."

The ads are focused on assuring "yes" votes from Tom O'Halleran of Arizona, Josh Harder and Katie Porter of California, Jason Crow of Colorado, Lucy McBath of Georgia, Cindy Axne of Iowa, Lauren Underwood of Illinois, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Jared Golden of Maine, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, Antonio Delgado of New York, Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, Colin Allred of Texas, Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton of Virginia, and Andy Kim, Tom Malinowski and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey.

The ads are being underwritten by the campaign finance reform group End Citizens United, the progressive democracy reform groups Public Citizen and Common Cause, the Communication Workers of America, and the pro-gun-control Brady PAC.

"Now, following an attack on our democracy — including an insurrection at the Capitol — it is time to finish the job and pass this into law," said Tiffany Muller of End Citizens United.

First Daywww.youtube.com

From Your Site Articles
  • Democracy reformers press Biden to make more of their causes ... ›
  • The curious tale of the disappearing Election Day holiday bill ›
  • Democracy reform groups seek Biden's suppor - The Fulcrum ›
  • Democrats renew efforts to pass HR1 - The Fulcrum ›
  • End Citizens United makes proactive game plan to pass HR 1 - The Fulcrum ›
  • March vote set for HR 1 as parties harden reform postures - The Fulcrum ›
  • March vote set for HR 1 as parties harden reform postures - The Fulcrum ›
  • Late tweaks keep HR 1 on track for House passage - The Fulcrum ›
  • Late tweaks keep HR 1 on track for House passage - The Fulcrum ›
  • Partisan standoff at Senate's first hearing on HR 1 - The Fulcrum ›
  • Partisan standoff at Senate's first hearing on HR 1 - The Fulcrum ›
  • HR 1 ad campaign targets Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • The Case for H.R. 1 | Brennan Center for Justice ›
  • What is the For the People Act - also known as H.R. 1? - Common ... ›
  • For the People Act - Wikipedia ›
  • 10 things you might not know about HR 1 - Roll Call ›
hr 1
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

But what can I do?

Pedro Silva

Are large donor networks still needed to win in a fairer election system?

Paige Chan

Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

David Thornburgh
John Opdycke

The U.S. has been seeking the center since the days of Teddy Roosevelt

Dave Anderson

Imperfection and perseverance

Jeff Clements

We’ve expanded the Supreme Court before. It’s time to do so again.

Anushka Sarkar
latest News

Podcast: 100% Democracy

Our Staff
4h

Americans want action on gun control, but the Senate can’t move forward

David Meyers
23h

Podcast: Why conspiracy theories thrive in both democracies and autocracies

Our Staff
25 May

Nearly 20 states have restricted private funding of elections

David Meyers
24 May

Video: Will Trump run in 2024?

Our Staff
24 May

The state of voting: May 23, 2022

Our Staff
23 May
Videos

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirstFriday Yap Politics

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
Podcast: 100% Democracy

Podcast: 100% Democracy

Leadership
people talking

But what can I do?

Leveraging big ideas
Shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas

Americans want action on gun control, but the Senate can’t move forward

Congress
Podcast: Why conspiracy theories thrive in both democracies and autocracies

Podcast: Why conspiracy theories thrive in both democracies and autocracies

Big Picture
First-ever majority-female New York city council

Are large donor networks still needed to win in a fairer election system?

Campaign Finance
Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

Voting