Democrats Say Running Against Corruption Is a Winning Midterm Message

Democratic candidates are leaning into anti-corruption messaging this cycle, seeing it as an opportunity to emphasize what they see as excessive corporate influence, unethical stock trading and shady behavior from their opponents.

They also face a challenge: Democrats were seen as more corrupt than Republicans by a five-percentage point margin in a 2025 battleground poll by End Citizens United, a group that advocates for getting rid of the influence of big money in politics.

The organization believes Democrats can turn that around by making anti-corruption a focus.

“A really important part of this conversation is it’s not enough to just say what the other side is doing wrong,” Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, told NOTUS. “We have to be able to say what we’re going to do to change it.”

More than 120 candidates have signed onto End Citizens United’s “Unrig Washington” initiative. To be recognized as part of the initiative, candidates must run on three things: banning congressional stock trading, refusing corporate PAC money and cracking down on dark money.

“Across Michigan, I’m hearing from folks, Democrat, Republican — and just sick and tired of politics — who are struggling to just make ends meet,” Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for Senate in Michigan, said in a statement to NOTUS. “They can’t afford groceries. They can’t afford to see a doctor. They can’t afford rent. And right now politicians on both sides of the aisle are part of the problem. They take money from corporations, then they do their bidding.”

Lawmakers from both parties have been tied to corruption, and voter trust in government is near a historic low. Pew Research Center found that 17% of Americans trust the federal government to do what is right “just about always” or “most of the time.”

End Citizens United found that corruption was a “defining issue” in research about what voters want to see from their candidates, Muller said.

“They feel like Washington is broken, that the system doesn’t work for them, and they want big changes, and they want leaders who are going to come and to change the system so that it does work for them again,” Muller said.

In the Maine Senate race to replace Sen. Susan Collins, Democratic frontrunners Gov. Janet Mills and Graham Platner are part of the Unrig Washington initiative.

“I’m running for Senate to take on corporate price gouging, break up monopolies, tax the rich, and fight for Medicare for All,” Platner said in a post on X in December.

Mills had the same sentiment when she announced she was joining the Unrig Washington initiative.

“Washington doesn’t work when it’s working for the powerful and not the people,” she said on X in December.

In the competitive race for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, candidate Jordan Wood has a particularly close tie to anti-corruption efforts: He previously worked for End Citizens United. He has advocated for an end to “corruption and the corrosive influence of big money in politics.”

Many Democrats are emphasizing the need to limit stock trading by lawmakers. Congress passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act in 2012 to prohibit insider trading, but some feel there should be stricter limits.

“If you’re in Congress, you should be focused on serving the people, not yourself,” Rep. Josh Riley, who is running for reelection in New York’s 19th Congressional District, said in a statement, adding his constituents voted for him to “take on a rigged system.”

Colin Allred, a former congressman looking to make a comeback in Texas’ 33rd Congressional District, laid out a 12-point anti-corruption plan that he would aim to implement if elected. He said he “never traded a single stock in Congress” and would bar lawmakers from doing so.

“People feel like the system is rigged against them,” Allred said in a statement. “And they’re right. When special interests can purchase politicians and the policies that follow, that’s not a government that serves the people.”

Other Democrats in notable races are not part of the End Citizens United campaign but are running on a similar anti-corruption platform.

“I’m running because I’ve seen firsthand what many Alaskans already know: D.C. is broken, and our future depends on fixing the rigged system that is shutting down Alaska while politicians feather their own nest,” said Mary Peltola, who is running against Sen. Dan Sullivan. “In the Senate, I will take on the special interests, and work with anyone or take on anyone, no matter their party, to make life better and more affordable for Alaskans.”

Some of the debate over corruption is taking place within the party. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is running for Senate in Minnesota, signed onto the Unrig Washington initiative. Her Democratic opponent, Angie Craig, is not eschewing corporate funds, as Flanagan pointed out in a statement to NOTUS.

“I made the choice not to accept corporate PAC money because Minnesotans deserve leaders who are committed to fighting for the people they represent,” Flanagan said.

While Craig does accept corporate PAC money for her campaign, she received an “A” rating from End Citizens United for her anti-corruption work. Her campaign hit back at Flanagan and said the lieutenant governor raised corporate money during her time as chair of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association.

“No one in this race has worked harder to clean up Washington than Angie Craig,” said Antoine Givens, a campaign spokesperson for Rep. Craig. “She has led the fight to ban members of Congress from trading stocks, from becoming lobbyists after they leave office and to overturn the Supreme Court decision that has allowed Republicans to flood the airwaves with millions of dollars in spending against Democrats.”

Muller said there has been no resistance from candidates when it comes to running on an anti-corruption platform.

“We are at a crisis moment for our country and for our democracy, and the candidates and the members that I talked to all really understand that,” ller said. “I think sometimes there is a feeling like you have to choose either running on affordability or running on corruption. And what we have found is actually those two issues are inextricably linked.”