Campaign Legal Center Files Ethics Complaints Against 41 U.S. Senate Candidates Nationwide for Missing Financial Disclosure Forms

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has filed a complaint with the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics (Senate Ethics Committee), urging it to investigate 41 candidates running in 21 states who failed to file personal financial disclosure forms for their respective campaigns.  

All U.S. Senate candidates are required to file personal financial disclosure forms with the Senate Ethics Committee once they raise or spend at least $5,000 for their campaigns. Those who ignore these rules risk further investigation by the U.S. attorney general.  

“Whether the failure to file personal financial disclosure forms were accidental or intentional, voters across nearly two dozen states have been deprived of critical information about the financial interests of Senate candidates running to represent them,” said Kedric Payne, CLC’s Vice President, General Counsel, and Senior Director of Ethics. “Without this information, voters can’t know where these candidates’ financial interests and liabilities lie, and when conflicts of interest arise, they will be harder to uncover. In order to gain the public’s trust, the 41 Senate candidates identified in our complaint should not delay in sharing this information with the public.”  

The Senate Ethics Committee has a track record of referring purposeful omission of these forms to the U.S. Justice Department regardless of the electoral outcome of candidates’ campaigns. This committee must communicate transparently what the rules are and enforce them accordingly.  

Voters have a right to know the financial interests of candidates wanting to become their elected officials. When Senate candidates file this information in a timely and truthful manner, we can maintain an electoral and governance process built on transparency and public confidence.