It paved the way for the creation of so-called super PACs, and unlimited, undisclosed contributions to outside groups that are often impossible to track. As a consequence, political operatives expect the 2016 presidential contest to attract billions from deep-pocketed donors and dark money groups.
The growth of money in politics has also caused calls for reform to grow louder, and on Wednesday proponents of campaign finance reform protested on Capitol Hill and across the nation. A rare protest broke out in the Supreme Court to mark the fifth anniversary of Citizens United.
READ: Protests break out in Supreme Court
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Democrats fell short with their campaign to turn the billionaire Charles and David Koch brothers, who spent over $30 million on the 2014 midterms through a murky web of super PACs and nonprofits, into a liability for Republicans — and Republicans missed the mark in trying to do the same with billionaire environmentalist and Democratic donor Tom Steyer.
Still, Donnelly said, the fight for reform “is a marathon, not a sprint” — and he holds out hope Obama could still act on the issue.
“There’s two years of possibilities ahead of us — the book has yet to be written on that,” he said.
