Texas AG Paxton sues Dem fundraising platform ActBlue, alleging 'fraudulent and foreign donations'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Monday against Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue, accusing them of misleading donors about safeguards meant to block fraudulent and foreign political contributions.

"BREAKING: I just filed a landmark lawsuit against ActBlue for deceiving Americans by lying about its donation processes that allow fraudulent and foreign donations," Paxton wrote Monday on X.

The state’s lawsuit, filed in Tarrant County district court, seeks injunctions barring ActBlue from accepting contributions made through gift cards and prepaid debit cards, along with civil penalties, attorneys’ fees and costs.

"The radical left has relied on ActBlue as a way to funnel foreign donations and dark money into their political campaigns to subvert our laws and compromise the integrity of our elections," Paxton said in a statement announcing the case. "ActBlue lied to Congress and to the American people, and I will ensure justice is served.

"It has blatantly ignored state law that prohibits deceptive practices, and it must pay for its illegal conduct. Fair elections are the foundation of our democracy, and I will work to ensure no illegal campaign donation flies under the radar."

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The state is suing under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, alleging that ActBlue engaged in false, misleading and deceptive practices by marketing its service as compliant and secure, while continuing to allow payment methods Texas says can facilitate unlawful donations.

The allegations in the lawsuit have not been proven in court, and ActBlue spokesperson De'Andra Roberts-LaBoo fired back at Paxton's lawsuit as an alleged deflection.

"This is a thinly veiled attempt to distract from Ken Paxton’s numerous legal and ethical issues ahead of next month’s runoff," Roberts-LaBoo, when reached for comment, wrote in a statement to Fox News, referring to Paxton's Senate GOP primary runoff against Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. 

"If he and his Republican allies actually cared about donor fraud, they would work to strengthen security standards across the board, including within their own operations, rather than targeting ActBlue. 

"Our platform has done more than any other, regardless of party, to prevent improper donations and protect donors. Full stop."

In the complaint, Texas alleges that ActBlue falsely claimed it had tightened donor-vetting procedures and stopped accepting certain high-risk forms of payment while continuing to process donations that, according to the state, could mask a donor’s true identity.

The lawsuit argues that gift cards and prepaid debit cards are especially vulnerable to abuse because they can be used without the same level of identification tied to traditional payment methods.

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Paxton’s office said the lawsuit grew out of an investigation opened in 2023 into whether ActBlue was enabling donor fraud in violation of Texas law.

The attorney general’s office later petitioned the Federal Election Commission in 2024, arguing that suspicious actors appeared to still be using the platform to make straw donations.

Paxton now says recent reporting and the office’s own investigation show ActBlue’s public claims about its compliance systems were false.

The lawsuit leans heavily on allegations that ActBlue misrepresented its security practices to Congress and the public.

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According to the filing, the platform told congressional investigators it had stopped accepting gift card donations and had implemented multilayered checks to screen for foreign or otherwise impermissible contributions. Texas alleges those assurances were untrue and says investigators were later able to make donations through ActBlue using gift cards, including donations to the Democratic National Committee and Texas candidates.

"ActBlue claimed it stopped its illegal operations," Paxton's news release read. "Now, recent reporting and internal OAG investigations have shown that ActBlue lied about its donor vetting policies and its operations. As The New York Times recently reported, ActBlue’s own outside counsel acknowledged that the organization’s representations about its donation safeguards were not true."

The complaint says those internal findings showed a "substantial risk" that some impermissible foreign contributions might have been processed, and alleges that ActBlue chose not to fully correct the record with Congress.

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The issue comes as the Democratic National Committee reportedly carries more than $17.5 million in debt, according to the FEC.

The House Administration, Judiciary and Oversight committees, amid an ongoing investigation, had issued a 2025 report titled "Fraud on ActBlue."

"This report reveals that ActBlue made its fraud-prevention rules 'more lenient' twice in 2024 — even though there is extensive fraud on the platform, including from foreign sources," a House Judiciary Committee news release related to the report said. "Internal documents show that ActBlue executives and staff are aware that both foreign and domestic fraudulent actors are exploiting the platform but do not take the threat seriously. In fact, they attempted to hide the changes to avoid sparking discussions about fraud on the platform."

ActBlue, founded in 2004, has processed more than $16 billion for Democrat and progressive candidates and causes, according to Paxton’s filing.

In the lawsuit, Texas says the platform handled $1.78 billion in donations in 2025 alone.