Kirsten Gillibrand Announces She'll No Longer Accept Corporate PAC Donations

On Tuesday afternoon, Gillibrand—who’s in the middle of a reelection campaign—announced she’ll no longer accept money from corporate PACs, citing its “corrosive effect” in politics. Almost simultaneously, she received an endorsement from End Citizens United, a campaign finance reform PAC funded by “grassroots donors.”

She joins Senators Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) in declining corporate PAC money.

“One of the reasons why I’m so concerned about money in politics is because of the Supreme Court decision Citizens United. We have a system where corporations can spend unlimited money, even if it isn’t disclosed, so there’s no transparency,” Gillibrand said.

“Since I was first elected in 2006, I’ve made it my mission to create more transparency and accountability in Congress. And so I was the first member of Congress to actually post my schedule, my earmark requests, and my financial disclosures online, and I’ve since added to that my taxes.” (Fact check: This is only partially true. She was the second known member of Congress to make public her financial disclosures online.)