People United for Privacy CEO Heather Lauer released the following statement in response to the announcement that Donald Trump has won the 2024 presidential election.

Free speech, fair elections, and confidence in American institutions are issues that have been top of mind for voters across the United States during this election. Our elected leaders now have an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment as a nation to those ideals.

To solve the serious issues we are facing, we need more free speech, not less. That is the only way for a country of over 330 million people to move forward from a divisive election season while continuing to debate controversial issues. It is also essential that the public recognizes the vital role that privacy plays in such speech.

Every American has the right to participate in civic debates without being silenced through threats to their career, safety, or family. To protect free speech and heal the country’s divisions, Americans must be free to join organizations that speak out on behalf of their shared values without being exposed and targeted for retribution.

To that end, we urge President-elect Donald Trump to continue building on his record of defending nonprofit donor privacy.

In President Trump’s first term, he oversaw reforms to the Internal Revenue Service to protect donor privacy and free speech. Trump ended an outdated policy that forced nonprofit advocacy groups to submit unnecessary personal information about their supporters for surveillance in an IRS database. The IRS admitted this information was not necessary to enforce tax laws, but it could be weaponized for political mischief through leaks or other abuses. Thanks to the reforms under President Trump, these sensitive records now remain private unless the IRS has a legitimate reason to access them.

President Trump provided additional support for donor privacy through his nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court – Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. All three Justices ruled in favor of protecting donor privacy in the 2021 case, Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta. That ruling struck down an attempt by former California Attorney General Kamala Harris to force every nonprofit registered in the state to turn over a list of their major donors to government officials and reaffirmed long-held First Amendment protections for donor privacy.

Recently, some Republicans have adopted Democrats’ rhetoric in calling for agencies like the IRS to assume new powers to police nonprofit donations and political speech. Republicans must abandon these misguided efforts and join together with President Trump to commit to holding the federal government accountable to the United States Constitution, including a persistent and forceful defense of free speech and personal privacy.