RepresentUs

I learned a lot from the brilliant CEO of @represent.us @mariamcfarlandsm.bsky.social on today's show!

standupwithpete.libsyn.com/1552-maria-m...

When a handful of billionaires can pour millions into elections, it raises questions: Who is the government really working for? Who gets a seat at the table? Who gets left out? How do these donations affect elected officials and their decisions?

Now, he said, the country is nearing a point where wealthy people can legally spend millions to direct how our government runs.

A former Montana governor and chair of the Republican National Committee, Marc Racicot, says wealthy people used to avoid looking like they were influencing policy – and the law limited their contributions.

Billionaire money is influencing more than federal races. Ultrawealthy donors are also pouring money into state legislatures, city councils, school boards, and courts, helping shape policy on issues from taxes to education to housing, even in districts far from where they live.

Money at this level is reshaping our elections. According to the NYT, campaign spending pays for TV ads, targeted digital advertising, canvassing tech, and organizing – tools that can be decisive in tight races.

The scale of billionaire giving dwarfs ordinary donors’. In 2024, billionaire families gave an average of $10 million each–roughly the same as what 100,000 typical donors gave combined. That doesn’t even count money they contributed through dark money groups who don’t have to disclose their donors.

Five presidential elections ago, billionaire campaign money was almost nonexistent – just 0.3% of contributions before the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling that lifted many campaign finance restrictions. Today their share has exploded.

The Scale of Billionaires’ Campaign Donations is Overwhelming U.S. Politics

Billionaires are reshaping American politics. In the 2024 election cycle, 300 billionaires and their immediate family members donated more than $3 billion – about 19% of all federal campaign contributions, according to a New York Times analysis.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/u...

Tell Congress: Pass a Real Ban on Congressional Stock Trading Sign the petition below to demand Congress pass a real ban on Congressional stock trading.

Pass a real ban. Demand the end of congressional stock trading NOW: represent.us/realstockban

Fortunately, there’s a real solution pending in Congress: the bipartisan Restore Trust in Congress Act. It bans members, spouses, and dependent children from trading individual stocks, requires divestment, and imposes real penalties. If Congress wants trust, prove it.

Trump rightly said that we need to , “ensure that members of congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information.” But some proposals floating around Capitol Hill, including the bill he endorsed, the Stop Insider Trading Act, won’t actually do that.

In his State of the Union speech, Trump endorsed a ban on members of Congress trading stocks, drawing bipartisan applause in the chamber. If Congress is serious about ending insider trading, it needs to pass a bill that actually bans it – not one that leaves loopholes.

Holdings like this raise concerns about conflicts of interest. If you want to serve in Congress, you should not be able to trade individual stocks tied to federal policy. Tell Congress: ban congressional stock trading. No more conflicts of interest!

Last month, Suozzi voted to fund DHS and federal immigration enforcement – while Palantir has earned tens of millions from DHS contracts and secured more than $80 million in ICE obligations since Trump returned to office.

Suozzi bought between $1,001–$15,000 in Palantir in 2023. By the end of 2024, he valued those holdings at $15,001–$50,000. The stock has skyrocketed more than 2,000% over three years.

Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi Owned Palantir Stock While Voting to Fund Homeland Security Palantir is doing huge business with the federal government as its share price soars.

Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi quietly held Palantir stock while the company became central to federal immigration enforcement, according to a NOTUS review of federal records. Lawmakers shouldn’t profit from companies tied to the agencies they fund.
www.notus.org/money/tom-su...

Join us for the real State of the Union event — DEFIANCE.org Opposition figures, current & former elected officials, celebrities, and other leaders will gather to tell the TRUTH and to counter Donald Trump’s lies. They’ll lay out how Trump’s historic abuses of ...

Our CEO, Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno is speaking at the biggest rebuttal to Trump's State of the Union.

Tues, Feb 24 | Washington, D.C. | Streaming LIVE from: defiance.org/sotu

This is exactly what accountability look like!

Congress has a responsibility to provide oversight and accountability. That’s how our system is supposed to work.

The report paints a picture of unethical, self-serving, out-of-control leadership at DHS. Meanwhile, the department has overseen brutal operations that have led to multiple killings, including of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

The pair have lately been using a luxury jet, which DHS is in the process of acquiring for ~$70 million. Lewandowski, a “special government employee,” reportedly sought a law-enforcement badge and federally issued gun. ICE officials declined. After media inquiries, efforts to issue the gun stalled.

The article also details reports of a romantic relationship between Noem and Lewandowski. Both are married and have denied an affair, though officials say their closeness has raised concerns inside the administration.

Inside DHS, Noem and adviser Corey Lewandowski have fired or demoted roughly 80% of ICE’s career field leadership, WSJ reports. Lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns as tensions mount inside the department.

A Pilot Fired Over Kristi Noem’s Missing Blanket and the Constant Chaos Inside DHS Secretary faces fire for confrontational immigration crackdown and self-promotional style; White House to wind down Minnesota operations.

A Coast Guard pilot was fired after Kristi Noem’s blanket wasn’t moved to a second plane during a trip, according to the WSJ. The pilot was told to take a commercial flight home – then reinstated because no one else was available to fly them back.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Tell Congress: Reject the MEGA and SAVE America Acts If either of these bills become law, millions of Americans could lose their ability to vote and the executive branch would gain tremendous new powers to interfere with elections.

Giving the executive branch this much control over elections creates serious risks to free and fair elections. Congress is voting soon on this and we have to protect our right to vote. Tell your member of Congress NOW to reject these bills: represent.us/fairelections26

These bills also take election authority away from the states and raise concerns about federal interference with free and fair elections. They would require states to share citizenship data with DHS (which oversees ICE) and with the DOJ – or risk losing election funding.

The bills would impose new national photo ID requirements, including for people who vote by mail, and restrict widely used mail voting practices that millions rely on. They would ban innovative voting systems like RCV, and increase the risk eligible voters are wrongly removed from voter rolls.

Commonly used IDs would be insufficient on their own – including REAL IDs, driver’s licenses, military IDs, and most Tribal IDs. The bills would create new barriers for people who’ve changed their name–including millions of married women whose birth certificates don’t match their current legal name.

If either bill becomes law, millions of eligible Americans could lose their ability to vote. These bills would require Americans to show proof of U.S. citizenship – like a passport or original birth certificate – just to register to vote. More than 150 million Americans don’t have a passport.