Senate candidate Judge endorsed by campaign finance reform group

DES MOINES - A political action committee focused on campaign finance reform has endorsed Patty Judge in Iowa's U.S. Senate race.

Judge, a Democrat, faces longtime Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley in the November election.

'Patty Judge has a record of serving Iowans and will continue fighting for everyday Americans in the Senate,” Tiffany Muller, executive director of End Citizens United PAC, said in a statement. 'We will work with her to give a voice to working families by ending the undue influence that billionaires and corporate special interests have in our government.”

The group is named after the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that led to dramatic increases in spending on federal elections.

Judge, a former Iowa agriculture secretary and lieutenant governor, said in a statement that she thinks special interest groups have stacked the political system against working families.

'We must reduce the influence of money in politics, beginning by overturning Citizens United and taking back our system from the millionaires and billionaires who can give unlimited and undisclosed amounts of money to influence our elections,” Judge said in the statement. 'End Citizens United is dedicated to this fight, and I am grateful for their support.”

Roughly one-third of Grassley's fundraising has come from PACs, as has roughly 20 percent of Judge's, according to the nonpartisan, non-profit Center for Responsive Politics.

PACs also are investing in Iowa's Senate race on their own, and most of the early spending has benefited Judge.

MoveOn.org has spent nearly $20,000 in opposition to Grassley, mostly on online and billboard advertising, according to campaign finance data collected by the nonpartisan, non-profit Sunlight Foundation. The Iowa Democratic Party has spent more than $2,600 opposing Grassley, mostly on online ads.