Issue One CEO Nick Penniman: House Democrats must reach out to Republicans to create a bipartisan comprehensive political reform proposal.

Last week, House Democrats introduced the most robust package of democracy reforms proposed in a generation as their lead priority for the 116th Congress.

It is an incredibly heartening and hopeful sign for all of us concerned about the weakening of democracy at home and rapid rise of authoritarianism abroad.

But we need more than good policy ideas at this critical inflection point in our nation’s history. We need to build bipartisan coalitions strong enough to get good ideas passed into laws.

Bipartisan action worked on more than a dozen reforms that passed at the state and local level over the past few election cycles. As the Founders would suggest, Congress should follow the states’ lead and get something real done in the coming years.

We strongly encourage House Democrats to reach out to Republicans to create a bipartisan comprehensive political reform proposal.

The political moment is ripe. There is more enthusiasm for political reform among Republicans than we have seen in many years, especially freshman and sophomore members of Congress. The country is desperate to see its system of government work again. Voters will reward champions for change on both sides of the aisle for their vision and leadership.

As the leading bipartisan political reform group in Washington, we look forward to helping unite Democrats, Republicans, and independents into a winning coalition in 2019 and beyond.

-Nick Penniman, Issue One CEO