ActBlue Says It Just Had Its Best Q2 Ever for a Midterm Cycle
ActBlue just had its best second quarter for a midterm cycle.
The Democratic fundraising clearinghouse announced on Thursday that it processed $586 million for Democratic candidates, organizations and causes between April 1 and June 30, marking a 14 percent increase over the same period in 2022. It’s the highest-grossing second quarter for the organization in a non-presidential cycle.
Federal campaigns alone pulled in $388 million through ActBlue – up about 34 percent from the second quarter of 2022, the organization said. State and local candidates accounted for about $150 million. Overall, the platform processed about 15 million total contributions, with an average donation size of $39.
The announcement comes amid ongoing scrutiny of ActBlue from Republican officials and lawmakers, who have raised questions about the platform’s compliance and donor verification practices.
Congressional Republicans investigating the Democratic donation-processing giant have ramped up that scrutiny in recent months. In June, the GOP chairs of three House committees sent a letter to ActBlue’s CEO Regina Wallace-Jones, accusing the organization of “making expansive assertions of attorney-client privilege in an attempt to improperly shield documents” requested by congressional investigators and threatening to hold ActBlue in contempt of Congress.
ActBlue has cast the investigations as an attempt to undermine a key pillar of Democrats’ fundraising apparatus. In announcing its Q2 record on Thursday, the organization argued that the GOP scrutiny hasn’t affected donor participation and platform growth, announcing that more than 20,000 campaigns, organizations and causes are now using ActBlue – a 51 percent increase compared to the same period in 2022.
“Behind every one of these contributions is a person who refuses to sit on the sidelines,” ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones said in a statement. “ActBlue exists to make sure that when people show up ready to fight for something better, they have the tools and infrastructure ready to support them.”
