Opinion: Democrats Are Facing a ‘Too Big to Fail’ Platform Crisis
Stop me if this sounds like a DCCC fundraising email: Fellow Democrats, things appear bleak. We’re in our darkest days. But we can be successful in November 2026 if … we start organizing, and you send me $19.
I’m kidding about that last part. But if Democrats want to be successful in the next midterm cycle, we need to start implementing the appropriate strategy now. And part of that organizing strategy needs to be protecting our party infrastructure because two of the most powerful tools that Democrats have relied on for decades, ActBlue and NGP VAN, are under threat.
The former has been the preferred credit card payment platform for Democratic campaigns since 2004. As a fundraiser, I’ve used ActBlue for almost every race I’ve been involved in since 2008. They’ve built an incredible platform that provides an array of fundraising tools and created an environment that donors are familiar with and, most importantly, trust.
ActBlue is under attack from Congressional Republicans, who are accusing it of allowing foreign nationals to donate to U.S. campaigns — and they’re getting reinforced by Elon Musk, who’s claiming that the platform is helping fund protests at Tesla dealerships nationwide. All of these attacks are nothing more than sour grapes from Republicans who only in 2019 created their version, WinRed.
While unfounded in this political environment, these attacks are meant to disrupt the Democratic campaign ecosystem. This comes on the heels of a New York Times article detailing the near meltdown of NGP VAN, the database that houses millions of records and data points that campaigns rely on for voter contact just weeks before the 2024 elections.
ActBlue and NGP VAN are two essential tools that probably 95 percent of winning Democratic campaigns in America use. If they are weakened, or worse before the 2026 elections, Democrats will be in an impossible position to rebuild them in time.
Simply put: they’ve become too big to fail for Democratic campaigns. Just like the financial institutions that were so essential to the economy, we had no choice but to bail them out or risk suffering a strategic setback in our organizing and fundraising.
As a Democrat fundraiser, I’ve been contacted by multiple vendors over the years pitching a new service or tool to compete with ActBlue and NGP VAN. Very few have been able to compete with these behemoths.
Ultimately, there are just too few options for campaigns that want an alternative. While there are plenty of other credit card processors to compete with ActBlue, almost none provide the necessary compliance for campaigns, the ease of use for the fundraiser, or most importantly the familiarity for the donors.
Democratic practitioners must fight against these attacks while at the same time fostering healthy competition. Otherwise, we may find ourselves actually living in the timeline of one of those DCCC fundraising emails.
Nick Daggers is a fundraising consultant based in Central Wisconsin who has helped Democratic candidates and causes raise tens of millions of dollars since 2008.
