Far-left politicians still using ActBlue as 88-year-old disputes donating nearly $150,000 to fundraising giant

Several prominent progressives — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed — continue raising campaign cash through the embattled fundraising platform ActBlue despite congressional investigations into allegations it failed to stop illegal foreign donations from entering U.S. political campaigns.

The fundraising behemoth has been thrust back into the spotlight after a recent viral video showed an 88-year-old Michigan woman disputing nearly $150,000 in political donations attributed to her in federal campaign finance records. She acknowledged using ActBlue to make political donations but disputed nearly the amount attributed to her. Federal Election Commission records attribute more than 15,000 contributions by the woman over a six-year period.

ActBlue says it has processed more than $19 billion in donations since it was founded in 2004, making it one of the largest online fundraising platforms serving mostly Democratic candidates, party committees and progressive organizations. It brands itself as a grassroots fundraising platform that is a "counterweight to the dark money special interests that dominate our politics."

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Republicans argue the platform has become vulnerable to fraud and illegal foreign donations. Since 2023, House committees have conducted an ongoing investigation into ActBlue's fraud-prevention practices and whether its safeguards adequately prevented illegal foreign and fraudulent contributions. ActBlue denies the allegations and any wrongdoing.

An April 2025 interim staff report also cited internal ActBlue records showing the platform detected 237 donations from foreign IP addresses using domestic prepaid cards during a 30-day period in late 2024, a pattern the committees described as a leading indicator of fraud.

The congressional investigation remains ongoing, and ActBlue has not been found to have violated campaign finance laws or been prohibited from processing political donations.

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ActBlue has evolved from a simple donation processor into one of the Democratic Party's most powerful fundraising platforms.

According to its website, ActBlue provides fundraising, organizing, campaign websites, voter outreach and other digital tools for thousands of Democratic candidates and progressive organizations, describing its mission as creating technology to "fuel Democratic wins."

ActBlue continues to process donations for some of the Democratic Party's highest-profile campaigns, including El-Sayed, who has been endorsed by Sanders, I-Vt. Sanders' campaign website also directs supporters to ActBlue to donate to El-Sayed's campaign.

The platform also processes donations for the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and thousands of other Democratic campaigns and progressive organizations. Its "Trending Campaigns" page currently highlights El-Sayed alongside Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., Texas state Rep. James Talarico, Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson and former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Other prominent progressives who continue using ActBlue include Rep. Ilhan Om