Tester, Weintraub join Democratic organization to counter corruption

Former Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont) and ex-Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chair Ellen Weintraub are officially joining the Democratic nonprofit group End Citizens United on Tuesday to help fight corruption and get big money out of politics, The Hill has learned. 

Both Tester and Weintraub will work at End Citizens United, a group that advocates for campaign finance reform, as senior fellows. The pair will be doing press interviews, writing op-eds, helping advise on legislation and participating in town halls and other public events across the country. 

“We know that they're both going to use their unique set of experiences to help educate Americans on the unprecedented levels of corruption that we're seeing today, each of them brings a little bit different experience,” End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller said in an interview with The Hill. 

Tester, a three-term senator who lost his reelection bid to businessman and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy (R) in November, formally joined MSNBC in May as a political analyst. Last week, the former senator also joined Unite the Country, a Democrat-aligned super PAC, where he will work as a senior adviser. The outside group spent nearly $3.6 million in supporting Democratic presidential nominees, initially former President Biden and later ex-Vice President Kamala Harris, during the 2024 election cycle, according to FEC records. 

“If we want a government that listens to working people — not just billionaires and corporate CEOs — we have to crack down on corruption and the role of big money in our elections. I’ve seen firsthand just how corrupting Citizens United has been on our government,” Tester said in a statement. “Too many politicians are focused on raising money and keeping their biggest donors happy instead of addressing the struggles of regular folks.” 

In early 2010, the Supreme Court struck down the independent expenditure blockade for unions and corporations. The amount of money in politics has exploded since, especially as other court rulings have also eased campaign finance regulations.

The spending by super PACs to influence elections has been on the upward trajectory, along with expenditures from so-called dark money groups, commonly nonprofits that are not obligated to disclose their donors. Dark money groups, including nonprofits and shell corporations, spent more than $1.9 billion during the 2024 election cycle, according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice that was published in early May. 

Weintraub, who was terminated by President Trump from the FEC in early February, said she will “fight” for reforms that restore the “laws and institutions designed to protect our democracy from corruption.”

Weintraub was initially appointed to serve on the FEC’s six-person commission by former President George W. Bush in 2002. Her term expired after five years, but no successor was appointed, which permitted her to continue being the “acting” commissioner. She was the chair of the independent agency four times during her 23-year stint. 

“I spent more than 20 years at the FEC fighting to enforce campaign finance laws and to protect our elections from corruption,” Weintraub stated. “Supreme Court decisions like Citizens United unleashed unlimited money into our elections, supercharging the influence of billionaire donors.” 

The fellows have already done a handful of events around the country where they advocated for campaign-finance reforms.

Tester and Muller held a roundtable discussion with Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo) in Aurora, Colo., on May 28, focusing on dark money. Later that day, Tester held a town hall with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). The event, at times, was disrupted by demonstrators protesting Israel’s war in Gaza. 

Weintraub participated in a town hall with Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) on May 17. 

“I think that this is all about building as many platforms as possible to get the messaging out about the corruption and chaos being caused by the Trump administration, the very real cost it is having on Americans' day-to-day lives, and how we all have to join together to fight back against it,” Muller said.