As the last end-of-quarter deadline before Election Day gets closer, our inboxes are once again filling up with more and more texts and emails asking for money. You may be wondering: “I already gave to ActBlue – why do they keep texting asking me for more?”
It’s a question we see a lot in our comments and replies, and here’s the answer:
ActBlue is just an app that all Democrats can use to raise money – they’re not the people who actually send the texts and emails.
Instead, all of those messages are coming from different Democratic candidates, party committees, and political action committees (PACs). So how do you tell them all apart when you want to donate?
First, there are the messages from presidential, statewide, and congressional campaigns – think Kamala Harris, Jon Tester, or Nancy Pelosi. They’ll either introduce themselves directly (e.g. “Geordan, Tim Walz here”), use an official logo, or otherwise make it clear that it’s coming from the official campaign.
Then, there are the PACs, who do their own independent ads, organizing, and turnout work to help Democrats. New. Digital. Now. is a PAC, along with others you may have heard of like EMILY’s List and Voters of Tomorrow.
But what about messages from PACs with official-sounding names that just promise to match your donation? Sounds enticing!

If they’re promising to match your donation without specifics, they’re almost certainly lying. And if you’re not sure who they are, just look at their website. Any PAC that’s worth your time will have a site with clear context on their work.
In this case, “Democratic Voters” doesn’t even have a working website, which means it’s a straight-up scam. But since there are no regulations, even some PACs who do good work boost their fundraising by telling you they’re matching your donation to a seemingly official Democratic campaign.
In my first job, I wrote messages for some of those PACs, and I personally believed that our donors deserved better. But using the fake match raised more money, and our managers told us more money meant defeating Trump.
Once I started working directly for state-level Democrats in 2022, I saw the real flaw in that logic. Every dollar raised on a fake 400% match for more ads to defeat Trump is a dollar that didn’t go to supporting down-ballot races.
Local elections can be decided by a handful of votes, so every dollar matters. And when PACs deceive donors to raise and spend millions on federal elections, our local democratic campaigns are left underfunded.
As a veteran field organizer for local campaigns, my friend Shayna knows this firsthand. So we joined together to create New. Digital. Now. – a virtual donor community that’s revolutionizing the way Democrats raise money online with honesty and respect.
Our new technology will bring together donors like you to highlight critical issues in the states and ensure local campaigns get their fair share.
Ready to join us in building the future?