Mayday.us has raised $5 million to reform political campaign finance

This is the last day for the second Mayday.US fundraiser, where you can help Larry Lessig raise $5 million to elect Congressmen who will fight for campaign finance reform and against the corrupting influence of money in politics. Lessig’s idea is to create a “super PAC to end super PACs,” using the funds raise to run a small number of campaigns upcoming elections, and those to prototype campaigns for a full slate in 2016. The structure of campaign finance today means that even if a Congress critter wants to be an honest broker for the constituents she represents, she can only get elected by sucking up to monied interests. Only through creating effective campaign finance reform can we set the stage for a less corrupt, more evidence-based policy.

Lawrence Lessig’s Mayday.us just raised a lot of money…to help get the money out of politics by campaigning to elect five politicians who will enact campaign finance reform. This morning the Super PAC hit its $5 million grassroots Kickstarter goal thanks to 47,000 supporters, which will be matched by $1 million donations from Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, TED’s Chris Anderson, and Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham. Harvard Law Professor Lessig’s ability to raise large sums from both wealthy tech luminaries and the general public shows broad support for making elected officials less beholden to big money campaign donors. Next, Mayday will aim to raise $12 million by November’s mid-term election to give candidates that align with its plan a boost on the campaign trail. People can still donate here. In a Letter To Everyone upon reaching the goal, Lessig wrote “The pundits say ‘America doesn’t care about this issue.’ This is America caring. And this is America demanding something more.” Lessig followed this up with a We Did It message explaining next steps, noting “Now we need to think beyond simple fundraising, and start thinking about how to get the most out of not only the money we’ve collected but more importantly the great community we’ve built.”