Progressive Turnout Project Joins Call for Democracy Reform Debate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 21, 2019
CONTACT: Shannon Faulise; press@turnoutpac.org

Progressive Turnout Project Joins Call for Democracy Reform Debate
Grassroots-funded organization joins coalition of 18 reform groups requesting DNC and major news networks ask about democracy reform in the Democratic debates

CHICAGO, Ill. Progressive Turnout Project joined 17 other groups in signing a letter to DNC Chairman Tom Perez calling on the party to consider a democracy reform focused debate during the Democratic presidential primary campaign. The groups believe that while many issues are important to the future of the country, democracy reform will be the underlying solution to fixing our broken government.

“Despite four Democratic debates, none of the network moderators have asked the candidates about the democracy reforms that will be necessary to achieve a progressive agenda,” said Executive Director Alex Morgan. “The majority of Americans know that our government is broken and they want to know what the Democratic candidates are going to do to fix years of damage done by Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell.”

The groups argue that a democracy reform debate will build upon the work done by House Democrats who passed the historic For the People Act this spring. The legislation would dismantle barriers to the ballot box, get big money out of politics, and end the culture of corruption in Washington. It has been co-sponsored by every Democratic Member of Congress. More than 130 good government groups joined the effort to pass the bill.

“The fact that every Democratic Representative and Senator has signaled their support for this bill means that the American people deserve to know which candidate will be the president who will sign it into law,” said Morgan. “It’s time to ask about democracy reform.”

Several Democratic presidential hopefuls have released robust democracy reform plans. They include Michael Bennet, Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Beto O’Rourke, and Elizabeth Warren. The next Democratic debates will take place in Houston on September 12 and 13. The groups are hopeful that the host network ABC, as well as the DNC, will ensure candidates have time to discuss their democracy reform plans.

###
Progressive Turnout Project is a grassroots-funded political action committee with a single mission: get Democrats to the polls. PTP designs, tests, and executes specialized voter-turnout programs targeting inconsistent Democratic voters in the most competitive elections across the country. Since its inception in 2015, the organization has raised more than $33 million with a supporter base of over 3.4 million and invested in voter-turnout programs in 130 House and Senate races.