Rep. Tokuda reintroduces bill to stop ‘redboxing’

US Rep. Jill Tokuda (HI-02) reintroduced the Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination Act on Thursday in an effort to “tackle the influence of dark money in federal elections and help restore Americans’ trust in their democracy.” 

Federal law prohibits campaigns from coordinating their messaging and communications with outside groups like super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from corporate and special interests.

Tokuda says campaigns have “skirted” these laws through a practice known as “redboxing,” in which they publish data and content – such as messaging points and pictures – to help supportive outside groups align with their efforts.  

The Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination Act would explicitly target redboxing by establishing clear legal standards for the Federal Election Commission to assess and determine campaign coordination.  

“The Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination Act fixes a clear gap in our election laws by eliminating the practice of redboxing, thereby increasing integrity in our elections and putting our voters and people above special interests,” said Tokuda.

“The Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination Act is a much-needed step forward to address the risk of corruption fostered by unlawful coordination strategies like ‘redboxing.’ By establishing clear rules and guidelines that better define what makes campaign spending ‘coordinated’ with outside groups like super PACs and dark money 501(c) groups, we can stop candidates from directing the activities of these allied groups, which are largely funded by wealthy special interests seeking more power and influence over elected officials,” said Saurav Ghosh, Director of Federal Campaign Finance Reform at Campaign Legal Center. 

The Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination Act has been endorsed by the Campaign Legal Center and Public Citizen. Original cosponsors of the bill are Reps. Paul Tonko (NY-20), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), and Ed Case (HI-01). 

Text of the bill can be found here.