ActBlue (Technical Services) is a 527 political action committee started in 2009 to act as “the online clearinghouse for Democratic action.”² The ActBlue PAC was formed five years later in 2009. ²

As part of its fundraising service, ActBlue provides fundraising software that allows its clients to maximize their fundraising activity without building out their own fundraising platform. These tools are available on all three of the organization’s platforms.⁹ Among the campaigns supported by StopSpeakerPelosi, it includes Representatives Rod Blum (R-Iowa), Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Barbara Comstock (R-Virginia), David Brat (R-Virginia), and Carlos Curbelo (R-Florida).⁹

Client List

ActBlue publishes a client list of²² From 2013 to 2020, ActBlue accumulated $147.7 million in tips, exceeding their operational costs, but continued to solicit tips on the basis that the funding was necessary to continue operations. Former National Republican Congressional Committee General Counsel, Chris Winkelman, stated that “If ActBlue’s claims of tips being essential to their operation are in fact false, and donors are making contributions based on those claims, this raises serious legal concerns.” ²⁵

Jonathan Zucker, the founder of It Starts Today, worked at ActBlue from 2005 to 2008 as chief operations officer and counsel, senior strategist, executive director, and as a member of the organization’s board of directors. ²⁸ According to the letter from both unions, those whom left included the organization’s customer service and partnerships directors, which included ActBlue’s former vice president of customer service Alyssa Twomey whom later wrote on social media, “After 14+ years of living and breathing all things ActBlue, it’s time for a reset. I’m taking an intentional pause before setting course for my next adventure.” ²⁸ In addition, other resignations included the group’s associate general counsel, the assistant research director, one human resources official, the chief revenue officer and a donation engineer. The New York Times article also claimed that a lawyer in the ActBlue general counsel’s office, Zain Ahmad, was on leave from the organization while his previous access to emails and internal platforms within the group had been cut off around February 26. In a statement on ActBlue’s Slack platform, Ahmad claimed, “Please be advised that we have Anti-Retaliation and Whistleblower Policies for a reason.” ²⁸ The unions’ letter claimed Ahmad’s statements were, “unsettling and disturbing, and part of a growing pattern of volatility and toxicity stemming from current leadership.” ²⁸

1. “Where’s the Money?” The Harvard Crimson. Accessed April 24, 2018. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2008/4/30/wheres-the-money-p-alignleftthe-office.
2. Hartmann, Michael E. “ActBlue Fundraising Platform Strikes Gold — for Liberals | RealClearPolitics.” RealClearPolitics. January 23, 2018. Accessed July 23, 2018. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/01/23/actblue_fundraising_platform_strikes_gold_–_for_liberals_136068.html.
3. “Business Entity Summary.” Corporations Division. Accessed January 16, 2019. http://corp.sec.state.ma.us/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSummary.aspx?FEIN=270160261&SEARCH_TYPE=1.
4. “Billions Raised Online since 2004.” ActBlue. Accessed July 23, 2018. https://secure.actblue.com/.
5. Castenell, Aimée. “How to Increase Donations on Giving Tuesday with ActBlue.” Fission Strategy. October 17, 2016. Accessed July 23, 2018. https://fissionstrategy.com/now-nonprofits-can-increase-donations-on-giving-tuesday-with-actblue/.
6. “PAC to PAC/Party.” OpenSecrets. Accessed July 25, 2018. https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pac2pac.php?cycle=2018&cmte=C00401224.
7. Schouten, Fredreka. “Exclusive: Fired-up Liberals Raise $1 Billion on Website for Candidates, Causes Ahead of Midterms.” USA Today. August 02, 2018. Accessed August 06, 2018. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/02/liberals-donations-through-actblue-top-1-billion-ahead-midterms/884400002/.
8. Bogorowski, Hanna. “GOP Rep. Jim Banks Launches StopSpeakerPelosi.com In Final Effort To Keep House Majority.” The Daily Caller. October 24, 2018. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/24/jim-banks-stop-pelosi-midterms/.
9. “StopSpeakerPelosi.” Support GiveGOP – Anedot. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://secure.anedot.com/givegop/stop-speaker-pelosi/tandem#toggle-tandem.
10. “Directory.” ActBlue. Accessed July 25, 2018. https://secure.actblue.com/directory.
11. “Directory.” ActBlue. Accessed July 25, 2018. https://secure.actblue.com/directory/all/independent-expenditure.
12. “Directory.” ActBlue. Accessed July 25, 2018. https://secure.actblue.com/directory/all/org?page=1.
13. Kerr, Andrew. “Democratic Fundraising Powerhouse ActBlue Amassed Nearly $150 Million from Small Donors with Misleading Sales Pitch, Documents Show.” The Daily Caller. The Daily Caller, October 25, 2021. https://dailycaller.com/2021/10/24/actblue-small-donors-fundraising-tips/.
14. Severns, Maggie. “Democrats Plan $50M Campaign to Flip State Legislatures before Redistricting.” POLITICO, January 15, 2020. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/15/redistricting-state-legislatures-campaign-099437.
15. Goldmacher, Shane. Twitter Post. July 7, 2021, 9:47 am. https://twitter.com/ShaneGoldmacher/status/1412770228447100930.
16. Glynn, Earl F. 3.3 Million Unemployed Gave ActBlue PAC $1.1 Billion in over 50 Million Contributions during 2022 Election Cycle.” Watch Dog Lab, January 17, 2023. https://watchdoglab.substack.com/p/33-million-unemployed-gave-actblue
17. Cawthorne, Cameron. “In Fundraising Email for Hurricane Relief, Bill Nelson Directs Users to Group That Builds Donor Lists for Dem Campaigns.” Washington Free Beacon. October 11, 2018. Accessed October 12, 2018. https://freebeacon.com/politics/bill-nelson-sends-fundraising-email-hurricane-relief-build-donor-lists/
18. Foldi, Matthew. “Actblue Has Not Cut Ties with Cuomo amid Sexual Harassment Allegations.” Washington Free Beacon, August 3, 2021. https://freebeacon.com/democrats/actblue-has-not-cut-ties-with-cuomo-amid-sexual-harassment-allegations/.
19. Markay, Lachlan. “Scoop: Democratic Fundraising Platform ACTBLUE Cuts Donation Page for Cuomo.” Axios, August 5, 2021. https://www.axios.com/democratic-fundraising-platform-actblue-boots-cuomo-49597235-7e72-4542-9bd8-64476a08fc68.html.
20. “I Just Gave to Midwest VALUES PAC!” ActBlue. Accessed August 4, 2021. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/midwest-values-pac-1.
21. Pramuk, Jacob. “Here Are All the Sexual Misconduct Accusations against Sen. Al Franken.” CNBC. CNBC, December 7, 2017. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/al-franken-news-list-of-sexual-misconduct-allegations.html.
22. Actblueblog, Actblueblog, and T1 Service Provider said: January 18. “Built to Last.” ActBlue, July 2, 2007. https://blogdotactbluedotcom.wordpress.com/2007/07/02/auburn-quad/#comments.7687
23. “Matt DeBergalis.” LinkedIn. Accessed July 25, 2018. https://www.linkedin.com/in/debergalis/.
24. “Benjamin Rahn.” LinkedIn. Accessed July 25, 2018. https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrahn/.
25. “About Us | Meet the Team.” ActBlue. Accessed August 21, 2018. https://secure.actblue.com/about#meet-the-team.
26. “Jonathan Zucker.” LinkedIn. Accessed July 25, 2018. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanzucker/.
27. Isenstadt, Alex. “Exclusive: GOP Reaches Landmark Agreement to Juice Small-dollar Fundraising.” POLITICO. January 21, 2019. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/21/republican-fundraising-patriot-pass-1116642.
28. Epstein, Reid J. and Shane Goldmacher. “ActBlue, the Democratic Fund-Raising Powerhouse, Faces Internal Chaos.” New York Times, March 5, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/us/politics/actblue-democrat-fundraising-resignations.html