Democratic fundraising text spam complaints
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The gist
Two researchers say "spam PACs" squeeze elderly donors with high-pressure Democratic fundraising texts.
The texts are cheap, legal and exempt from Do Not Call.
Background
The scrutiny centers on "spam PACs" — political action committees that raise money largely through mass text messages — inside the Democratic Party fundraising ecosystem. Adam Bonica and Jake Grumbach, researchers who study money in U.S. politics, say what began as a project on younger Americans' exclusion from campaign finance led them to investigate these committees. The topic is drawing coverage now because the texts are surging ahead of the 2026 midterms, and because political speech faces fewer restrictions on unwanted texting than other messages.
How it unfolded
- 2010sA high-volume spam model run by a few fundraising organizations began and later spread to official Democratic campaign committees.
- 2021The Supreme Court sided with Facebook in a case over an unsolicited security-code text, ruling such texts didn't violate federal robocall restrictions — which campaigns say empowered mass texting.
- 2022Robokiller estimated Americans received 15 billion political texts.
- Oct 16, 2026The Mercury News published an FAQ on political text messages less than three weeks before Election Day.
- Oct 21, 2026Fox News reported on why blocking political texts keeps failing and how to stop them.
- Oct 22, 2026The New Republic published an article on the consulting class and Democratic fundraising spam.
Who’s saying what
- Analysts
- Bonica and Grumbach argue the spam is destroying trust and enthusiasm for the Democratic Party, driving away young potential donors and extracting most funds from a small set of vulnerable senior citizens.
- Expert
- Political science professor Melissa Michelson says the texts are cheap and effective because people look at their phones constantly, but advises deleting them and donating via a campaign's website instead.
- Caution
- George Weiner, creator of the tracking tool PACspam.org, says "Our phones don't have to live like this."
Still unverified
Scammers may try to obtain your information by posing as a political campaign, the Mercury News reported.