Nationwide anti-corruption tour aims to help local communities fight back against political corruption

By Camaron Stevenson, National Correspondent

While polarization is part of the Trump administration’s brand, Donald Trump’s insistence on using his position for personal gain has united voters around one issue: the fight against corruption.

Concerns about political corruption rank among voters’ top issues — even higher than affordability, according to polling commissioned by the political action committee End Citizens United. Anti-corruption sentiment spans the political spectrum, exacerbated by Trump’s penchant for trading stocks based on privileged information, abusing the unregulated cryptocurrency market, and selling pardons for profit and personal favors.

While the six-times-bankrupted Trump and his family have leveraged his position in public service to make $4 billion, wages across the US have remained stagnant, the cost of basic necessities has skyrocketed, and inflation has risen to its highest point in nearly a year with no sign of relief.

“Americans are fed up with the pay-to-play culture that has taken over government,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United. “They’re watching the cost of everyday essentials like groceries and health care go up while wages stagnate and opportunities disappear. At the same time, they see their elected officials tripping over themselves to reward billionaire donors and corporations while working families get ignored.”

Many, including Muller, see her organization’s namesake as the root of the problem: since the US Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, the amount of money spent on political campaigns per cycle has exploded. In presidential elections alone, spending — largely by corporations and billionaires — increased from $16 million in 2008 to $2.6 billion in 2024.

In an attempt to tap into that frustration and give voters resources to fight back against corruption in local and national politics, End Citizens United plans to hold a nationwide Kick Out Corruption tour. At each stop, local politicians will present their plans to address the abuses of position and power that have become entrenched in modern American politics.

The tour is a joint effort between End Citizens United and anti-corruption advocacy nonprofit Stand Up America. The first stop is scheduled for  June 7 in Tempe, Arizona, where Sen. Mark Kelly will deliver remarks focused primarily on stock trading. He is expected to outline his legislation that would require members of Congress and their families to put their stock holdings in blind trusts while in office, preventing them from profiting from nonpublic information obtained through their positions.

Several stops are planned this summer. In addition to insider trading, organizers plan to address aspects of corruption that tend to fly under the radar, including politicians changing the rules in order to remain in power — such as through congressional gerrymandering — and preferential treatment for donors once in office, like the no-bid contracts awarded to private prison contractor GEO Group, a major Trump donor.

“Americans are paying more for health care, housing, and groceries because Donald Trump has handed Washington over to billionaires and powerful corporations who benefit when the system stays broken,” said Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America. “The Kick Out Corruption Tour is our chance to elevate leaders who are serious about the reforms that will be needed to end the era of government by and for the powerful few.”