He'll be a "referendum candidate": if elected, he'll immediately pass campaign-finance reform, then resign.
Specifically, he'll pass the "Citizen Equality Act," which increases access to voting, shifts to citizen-funded elections, and de-gerrymanders the Congressional districts.
By running as a "referendum candidate" who'll do just one thing, then resign, Lessig is paving the way for Republicans who're disgruntled at electoral corruption (including Tea Party members) to vote Democrat for the purpose of changing, all at once, how government works.
He's soliciting donations, and aiming to raise $1M by Labor Day, or he'll scrap the project and return everyone's money.
The Citizen Equality Act is presented here as a template for three fundamental reforms that must happen if we are to have equal citizens. We are presenting this package now, pointing to the proposed legislative source for each element. If the campaign is launched after Labor Day, then in the fall, we will crowdsource a process to complete the details of this reform, and turn it into proposed legislation by January 1. At this point, you should read the act as embracing at a minimum the reforms included within the source for each element:
Equal Right to Vote
We must have a system that guarantees a meaningfully equal freedom to vote. To achieve that, we must at a minimum enact the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015 and the Voter Empowerment Act of 2015. We should as well add automatic registration, and shift election day to a national holiday.
Equal Representation
Equal citizens must have equal representation in Congress. That means, districts must be drawn, and election systems structured, so as to give each citizen as close to equal political influence as possible. FairVote has offered the most comprehensive solution to achieve this equality. At a minimum, the Citizen Equality Act would incorporate their proposed "Ranked Choice Voting Act," which ends political gerrymandering and creates multi-member districts with ranked choice voting for Congress.
Citizen Funded Elections
A core corruption of our political system is the concentration of funders of political campaigns. That concentration creates extraordinary inequality. The Citizen Equal Act would end that inequality, at a minimum by adopting a campaign funding proposal that is a hybrid between John Sarbanes' Government by the People Act, and Represent.US's "American Anti-Corruption Act." That hybrid would give every voter a voucher to contribute to fund congressional and presidential campaigns; it would provide matching funds for small-dollar contributions to congressional and presidential campaigns. And it would add effective new limits to restrict the revolving door between government service and work as a lobbyist.
Lessig 2016 | Referendum For Citizen Equality
(Thanks, Brian!)
