HENRICO, VA – End Citizens United (ECU), a leading national anti-corruption organization, today endorsed Shannon Taylor in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District. In addition to the endorsement, Taylor is joining ECU’s Unrig Washington program for candidates who reject corporate PAC money, support a ban on congressional stock trading, and work to end dark money in politics.
“Congressman Wittman has spent nearly two decades profiting from stock trades, protecting his special interest donors, and playing by a different set of rules. He represents the worst of Washington corruption,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “Shannon Taylor is running to end that. Her experience as a prosecutor and her refusal to take any corporate PAC money reflect the values of accountability, reform, and public service that our corruption-plagued government desperately needs. We’re proud to endorse Shannon, and we look forward to helping her flip this seat.”
“As Henrico’s top prosecutor, I have dedicated the past 15 years to keeping my community safe. From achieving an over 90% homicide conviction rate to taking on fraudsters and getting drugs off our streets, we have made Henrico safer. Now, another threat is harming Virginians: the culture of corruption in Washington,” said Shannon Taylor. “Politicians from both parties have failed us—they vote to protect themselves and their special interest donors, causing our prices to rise. That’s why I’m running for Congress: to take that corruption head-on by passing term limits, mandating jail time for members of Congress who steal taxpayer funds, and banning congressional stock trading. I am grateful for ECU’s endorsement as we fight to lower costs, defeat Rob Wittman, and make Congress serve the people first.
Taylor has made cleaning up corruption in Washington and holding politicians accountable a defining issue of her campaign. She supports banning members of Congress from trading stocks, ending the lobbyist revolving door, and strengthening accountability for elected officials who abuse public office. Taylor is also part of ECU’s Unrig Washington program, where she joins over 240 Democratic candidates in rejecting corporate PAC money, supporting a ban on congressional stock trading, and cracking down on dark money in politics. Learn more about the campaign here.
Rep. Wittman represents everything Virginians hate about our politics. He has accepted a staggering $3.3 million in corporate PAC money over his career, including $2 million from the defense industry while serving as Vice Chair of the House Armed Services Committee. He has a 15-year record of opposing legislation that would bring down health care costs, voting instead to enrich the greedy corporations that fund his campaign. His votes in Congress have also greatly benefited his own stock portfolio, which contains tens of thousands of dollars worth of investments in pharmaceutical and Big Tech companies. Rep. Wittman also received an F on ECU’s Anti-Corruption Scorecard for the 119th Congress.
ABOUT SHANNON:
Shannon Taylor is a battle-tested prosecutor with 25 years of experience and a 90% conviction rate in homicide cases, taking on the toughest threats to Virginia families and delivering justice. A native of Charlottesville and graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond Law School, she began her career as a prosecutor in Richmond before serving as a Special Assistant in the U.S. Attorney’s office. In 2011, she flipped the Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office from Republican to Democrat, becoming the first woman elected to the role. She has since been re-elected three times, proving she knows how to win tough races.
As Commonwealth’s Attorney, Taylor has pioneered programs to support victims of human trafficking, created a task force to tackle the opioid epidemic, and led prosecutors statewide in pledging not to criminalize women or doctors for abortion care. She has worked alongside law enforcement to keep families safe, fought fraud that harms working people, and partnered with gun safety advocates to take illegal guns off the streets.
Shannon Taylor has built her career on protecting Virginians and delivering justice for families regardless of their politics.
For more on Shannon Taylor’s campaign, visit ShannonTaylorVA.com.
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