Congressional candidate Matt Haggman says he won’t take PAC money

Looking for a way to distinguish himself in an eight-candidate field for the Democratic nomination in Florida’s 27th Congressional District contest, former Knight Foundation Program Director and Miami Herald reporter Matt Haggman is pledging to only accept contributions from people — and not political action committees.

“If Democrats believe corporations aren’t people (they aren’t), and that PACs have an undue amount of influence in our electoral process (they do), then we need to start walking the walk — not just talking the talk,” Haggman announced Monday in a post on Medium.

In addition, Haggman said that if elected, he would sponsor the No PAC Act —  legislation that would ban PAC contributions to members of Congress and the establishment of Leadership PACs.

“I will join the ‘No PAC Money’ Caucus and work to encourage my colleagues to adopt and support strong campaign finance reform measures,” he writes. “I will be refusing any contributions from federal lobbyists — I don’t believe there’s any room for influence-seeking money in our politics.”

In the 2016 election cycle, PACs contributed more than $362 million to just House candidates, and PACs have already contributed a whopping $123 million to House candidates for the 2018 cycle.

Haggman is one of six Democrats running in the congressional seat that encompasses Miami and Miami Beach. It has been held for nearly 30 years by Republican Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, who announced last year that she would be stepping down later this year.

Haggman led the crowded field of candidates in fundraising in the third FEC quarterly report of 2017, bringing in $512,000 — raising more and spending less than any other campaign.