Representative Julie Johnson (D-TX) and other Democrats are accusing President Donald Trump of undermining the electoral process for political gain, arguing that recent actions by the administration and the Republican Party are designed to make it harder for Democrats to regain power in Congress.
These remarks came during a House Administration Committee hearing to question ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform, amid an ongoing investigation over allegations that it failed to prevent fraudulent and foreign donations and misled Congress about its donor verification practices.
Despite ActBlue’s Republican fundraising counterpart, WinRed, also facing fraud allegations, only ActBlue President and Chief Executive Regina Wallace-Jones was called to testify before Congress. For that reason, she said this hearing is not about oversight or advancing legislation to prevent fraudulent campaign donations.
“If it were, today’s hearing would include the Republican fundraising platform WinRed. This blatant hypocrisy must not be overlooked,” Wallace-Jones wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece on the day of the hearing.
Is the ActBlue Probe About Oversight or Politics?
During the hearing, Rep. Johnson said this reveals the true politically-charged motive behind the investigation.
“The fact that Republicans have no desire to police their own side of the street, their own house, just highlights again the political desperateness by which we are here,” Rep. Johnson said.
This “desperate political act,” Rep. Johnson said, can be seen in the several “attacks” President Trump has issued against the election process to keep Democrats in the minority on Capitol Hill. Rep. Johnson pointed to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act and Republican-led redistricting efforts to redraw congressional maps as evidence of these efforts.
“Donald Trump is terrified that he's going to lose the party's election control in 2026,” Rep. Johnson said. “Terrified that Democrats are going to take the gavels back in this building to hold his administration accountable for the horrific damage they've done on the American people.”
Texas Has Seen this Before
Texas Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton moved to sue ActBlue in April over these allegations of failing to root out fraudulent donations. Other House members have argued that he has ignored similar complaints made by Texans against WinRed.
In 2023, Rep. Johnson and other members of the Texas House of Representatives voted to convict and impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for alleged abuse of power, including accusations that he misused his position to benefit a political donor and obstructed investigations into his conduct.
Although Paxton was later acquitted by the Texas Senate, Rep. Johnson said it was still a “privilege” to vote in favor of his impeachment and hold him accountable for what she described as abuses of power.
“I've seen firsthand what Ken Paxton and the Texas Attorney General has done to abuse his authority, and the overwhelming depth of corruption that man has put on the state of Texas, and through WinRed,” Rep. Johnson said.
