WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - House Democrats want to tighten campaign finance laws less than two months before Election Day.

They insist some campaigns are skirting federal election laws to illegally coordinate with outside groups.

“Having been on the receiving end multiple times, actually, of super PAC, dark money hits, it’s personal,” said Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii).

Rep. Tokuda claims during her first run for Congress in 2022, her opponent coordinated with corporations and special interests to attack her. She maintains this happened through “redboxing.” Redboxing is when a candidate publishes content to signal to outside groups how to advertise about an opponent.

Tokuda said, “Quite frankly, it is sick.”

So sick Tokuda said, that she has introduced a bill called the Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination, or SICC, Act. The act would ban redboxing and establish ways for the Federal Election Commission to crack down on it.

“For every dollar that we get, you need to know who’s behind that money. And there needs to be limits to all of these things,” said Tokuda.

For 14 years, super PACs have been allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from corporations and special interests thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. But super PACs can’t give directly to parties and candidates or speak with them.

Hans von Spakovsky at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation says Tokuda’s bill is unconstitutional because it targets free speech.

“For expressing your opinion, you could be subjected to a civil penalty by the FEC or a criminal prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice,” said von Spakovsky.

von Spakovsky also argued, when looking at the 2020 cycle, dark money’s general impact on elections is exaggerated. That cycle, according to OpenSecrets, saw overall spending on presidential and congressional races top $14 billion but special interests accounted for less than a percentage. And as a former FEC commissioner, von Spakovsky said the commission already does a pretty good job of enforcing the law.

“And I just don’t think there’s such a big problem, that we need a bill like this,” von Spakovsky said.

Tokuda’s bill has been referred to a House Committee but it has yet to receive a hearing or any Republican support.

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