FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 24, 2026
Contact: Jeremy Rasmussen, Campaign Manager Poulos for Massachusetts jeremy@poulos.house poulos.house
Facing His First Primary Challenge in Six Years, Rep. Auchincloss Cosponsors a Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United — One Day After His Office Defended His Record
Sixteen months of inaction. A Fig City News story on this campaign raising the issue. A response from his office defending his record. A cosponsorship the next day. Three of the four pending amendments remain unsigned.
MASSACHUSETTS FOURTH DISTRICT — May 24, 2026 — Facing his first contested Democratic primary in six years, U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (MA-04) has done something he had refused to do for the previous sixteen months of the 119th Congress: cosponsor a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United v. FEC. The cosponsorship was filed on May 21, 2026 — one day after a Fig City News profile of progressive challenger Jason Poulos was updated with a statement from a representative of Auchincloss’s office defending his record on the issue.
The new cosponsorship — for H.J.Res.122, the Citizens Over Corporations Amendment — is the first of four pending 119th-Congress constitutional amendments to overturn Citizens United that Rep. Auchincloss has signed onto. He remains a non-cosponsor of the We the People Amendment (H.J.Res.54), the Free and Fair Elections Amendment (H.J.Res.119, lead-sponsored by fellow Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern), and the Democracy for All Amendment (H.J.Res.121). Outside of House leadership, every other Massachusetts House Democrat had signed onto at least one of these amendments months ago.
The timeline.
- May 19, 2026: Fig City News publishes “Jason Poulos challenges Auchincloss in MA-4 primary, warns AI is displacing workers,” which notes the Poulos campaign’s claim that Rep. Auchincloss had not cosponsored any of the four pending amendments to overturn Citizens United.
- May 20, 2026: The story is updated with a statement from a representative of Rep. Auchincloss’s office: the congressman “has co-sponsored legislation to overturn Citizens United.”
- May 21, 2026: Rep. Auchincloss is added as a cosponsor of H.J.Res.122.
A pattern, not a coincidence. Rep. Auchincloss has written in his Substack newsletter that Citizens United makes elections “more like auctions than contests” and has called for “boot[ing] big money out of campaigns.” For the first sixteen months of the 119th Congress, the rhetoric and the cosponsorship sheet did not match. After one news cycle of public scrutiny, that gap closed — for one of the four amendments. He has also taken over $707,000 in PAC money this cycle alone — more than the Massachusetts rank-and-file Democrats who cosponsored these amendments years ago, combined.
The race the district has not had in six years. As the State House News Service reported on May 20, 2026, Mr. Poulos is “shaping up as Auchincloss’ first primary challenger since his initial election in 2020.” Mr. Poulos was certified to the September 1, 2026 Democratic primary ballot on May 5, 2026, having submitted more than 2,600 certified voter signatures from 31 of the district’s 35 cities and towns — well above the Commonwealth’s 2,000-signature minimum. Rep. Auchincloss has also been certified. The Newton Beacon also noted the qualification.
Full background. A detailed accounting of the four pending amendments, the Massachusetts delegation’s cosponsorship record, and the PAC-money pattern is available in the Poulos campaign’s May 24 post: “Facing His First Primary Challenge in Six Years, Rep. Auchincloss Finally Cosponsors a Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United.” The original December 16, 2025 deep-dive is at poulos.house/2025/12/16/auchincloss-citizens-united-hjres2.html.
Upcoming town hall. Mr. Poulos will host a public town hall at the Brookline Public Library, Coolidge Corner Branch. Event details, registration, and time are at brooklinelibrary.libcal.com/event/16874720. The event is free and open to all Fourth District residents.
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