WHAT’S GOING ON WITH ACTBLUE? The Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue was created more than 20 years ago, in 2004, at a time when Democrats were up in arms over another Republican president, George W. Bush. “In the early 2000s, grassroots supporters — frustrated with the Bush administration — were an untapped superpower for campaigns,” ActBlue officials wrote to mark their anniversary last year. “Since then, the leading online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and campaigns helped process over $13 billion raised from more than 250 million individual donations.”

ActBlue “transformed Democratic politics,” Politico wrote back in 2020. Its “wild success” has “reshaped the way candidates not only raise money but campaign for office.” The group’s achievements caught Republicans unaware; GOP leaders created their own online platform, WinRed, which has been valuable for the party but has not equaled ActBlue’s success.