WHAT’S GOING ON WITH ACTBLUE? The Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue was created more than 20 years ago, in 2004, at a time when Democrats were up in arms over another Republican president, George W. Bush. “In the early 2000s, grassroots supporters — frustrated with the Bush administration — were an untapped superpower for campaigns,” ActBlue officials wrote to mark their anniversary last year. “Since then, the leading online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and campaigns helped process over $13 billion raised from more than 250 million individual donations.”
ActBlue “transformed Democratic politics,” Politico wrote back in 2020. Its “wild success” has “reshaped the way candidates not only raise money but campaign for office.” The group’s achievements caught Republicans unaware; GOP leaders created their own online platform, WinRed, which has been valuable for the party but has not equaled ActBlue’s success.
ActBlue was a big part of former Vice President Kamala Harris’s fundraising bonanza after incumbent Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. The group touted its fundraising for each night of the Democratic National Convention — $13 million on Day One, $16.5 million on Day Two, $23 million on Day Three, and $37 million on Day Four.
So ActBlue is an important part of the Democratic machine. And now something appears to have gone terribly wrong.
Last week, the New York Times reported that at least seven senior ActBlue officials have resigned in recent days, with the suggestion that the resignations might be related to the actions of a whistleblower inside the organization. The New York Times cited an angry letter sent by two unions who said the departures are “eroding our confidence in the stability of the organization.” According to the letter, cited by the New York Times, ActBlue’s customer service director, partnerships director, associate general counsel, assistant research director, and chief revenue officer, plus an engineer and human resources official, all left.
Nobody will say a word to reporters. But then came one additional piece of information. A man named Zain Ahmad, who the New York Times said is the “last remaining lawyer in the ActBlue general counsel’s office,” wrote an internal message saying that his access to email and other communications had been cut off. He is now apparently on leave. And then, according to the New York Times, Ahmad wrote, “Please be advised that we have Anti-Retaliation and Whistleblower Policies for a reason.” That seems to suggest Ahmad is saying he is being retaliated against for blowing the whistle on something that led to the mass exodus. But we don’t know.
Now, the House Oversight Committee chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the man who uncovered much of the Biden family’s shady financial dealings, and House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-WI) have written a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggesting they are probing ActBlue’s activities.
The two committees “are investigating reports of potentially fraudulent and illicit financial activity related to contributions to campaigns of candidates for federal offices facilitated by online fundraising platforms like ActBlue,” Comer and Steil wrote. Of particular concern, they added, are “recent reports suggesting fraud and evasion of campaign finance law by individuals exploiting online contribution platforms, especially ActBlue.”
Comer and Steil want the Treasury to show them documents known as suspicious activity reports. The two asked the Biden Treasury Department for the information months ago but were only allowed to review “limited documents.” They’re now requesting the Treasury Department, under Republican control, to provide the rest.
One last thing that may or may not be related to anything: In recent days, Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency effort, has suggested that ActBlue-funded groups are behind violent protests at Tesla dealerships. It’s not clear precisely what Musk is alleging; at this point, his message seems to be, as he posted on Friday, “Something stinks about ActBlue.”
At this point, nothing is clear. But something is going on at ActBlue, and Comer and a few others are on to it.
In the bigger picture, it is one more problem for a Democratic Party that is beset by problems right now. Stunned by the events of 2024, the party doesn’t really know what it is or what it wants to be. Most importantly, it does not know how to deal with President Donald Trump. And now it is going to have to deal with congressional investigators too.