From The Guardian, 22 January, 2026, “Rural California is seeing its craziest election in years. Can a progressive win it?”
“They’re all connected. The economic and the political systems that we are a part of are serving corporate greed and billionaires at the expense of regular people. This is not the democracy we want to live in.”
Audrey Denney is running a grassroots campaign centered on the belief that representation should be accountable to people, not powerful special interests. By flatly refusing all corporate PAC money, she is taking a principled stand against the “donor class” and the outsized influence of big money in Washington. Her campaign is powered by individual contributors—neighbors and community members giving what they can—to ensure that her platform remains focused on the urgent needs of the district, such as lowering healthcare costs, addressing the wildfire insurance crisis, and protecting rural schools.
Her commitment to campaign finance reform is a cornerstone of her vision for a healthy democracy. Denney advocates for overturning Citizens United and ending insider stock trading for members of Congress, arguing that these steps are essential to returning power to regular citizens. By running a campaign funded by small-dollar donations, she is demonstrating the very transparency and integrity she intends to bring to the U.S. House, proving that a candidate can be competitive while remaining beholden only to the voters they serve.
