A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled last week that Texas Attorney General and United States Senate Candidate Ken Paxton’s pending lawsuit against the main Democratic fundraising platform was politically motivated, dismissing his claims that it accepted fraudulent donations.
The court’s decision blocks Paxton from moving forward with the lawsuit. Regardless, the Judge said the platform, ActBlue, would most likely defeat the lawsuit by arguing that Paxton’s claims infringed on its First Amendment right to free speech.
According to Judge Richard Stearns’ written decision, the main factor in his ruling against Paxton was how the lawsuit was used to help his campaign for the U.S. Senate and against the platform, ActBlue’s, effort to fund his Democratic opponent James Talarico’s campaign.
“The truth is plain and captured in Paxton’s own declarations: The lawsuit was filed in retaliation for (and in an attempt to suppress) ActBlue’s efforts to fund Talarico’s campaign,” Judge Stearns wrote.
The judge also rejected Paxton's claim that he’d filed the ActBlue lawsuit five days after Talarico made his record-breaking net fundraising results public.
Paxton responded to the “flawed” ruling on X, adding that he will appeal it immediately.
“Texas has every right to enforce its own laws to protect our citizens, and we will continue to fight to hold ActBlue accountable,” Paxton said.
The judge also said Paxton’s “failure to take any action on similar complaints” filed against WinRed was another point of consideration. when making the decision.
This ruling comes amid intense allegations against ActBlue and its Republican counterpart WinRed. Both fundraising platforms face allegations of weak donor verification practices and potential misuse of its platforms, and last week, members of Congress held a hearing for ActBlue executives to testify on these concerns.
Some representatives pushed for further inquiry into ActBlue’s alleged wrongdoings, while others spoke out against WinRed for not being called before Congress.
This “double standard,” as some lawmakers have characterized it, was highlighted by Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who is among a group of members calling for an investigation into what they describe as Paxton’s failure to pursue similar scrutiny of WinRed.
Paxton’s office has yet to reply to their inquiries on whether the attorney general has investigated allegations involving WinRed and whether similar scrutiny has been applied to both major political fundraising platforms.
“Attorney General Paxton sued ActBlue in April, but his office has ignored complaint after complaint from Texas constituents about the allegations of fraud and abuse related to WinRed,” Rep. Raskin said.
