A barrage of political fundraising texts sent to the wrong phone number has exposed the data networks and tactics used to solicit Democratic donors in the United States. Since March 2022, the recipient received 1,735 messages from 812 different numbers, most of them apparently intended for a California relative identified as John.

The recipient lives in New York, has never made a political donation and has a different name, phone number and bank account from John. Federal Election Commission records show that John made about 160 contributions since 2017, totaling roughly $1,700, with a median donation of $6. This year, he donated six times for a combined $51.

Despite that relatively small giving history, the phone number received 725 fundraising texts during the year, including more than 190 in the first 20 days of October. On October 14 alone, 21 messages arrived. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sent 60 texts, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent another 41.

Attempts to stop the messages were unsuccessful. The recipient replied “STOP” or similar variations 49 times since 2021. A request sent to Senator Jon Ossoff’s campaign in November 2025 was followed by 13 additional messages from nine numbers. Other responses, including an insult sent to a DCCC message, also failed to end the solicitations.

An examination of the messages found that many links eventually led to ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform. Tracking codes embedded in those links identified the appeal, the message and, in some cases, the source of the recipient’s contact information. Nearly half of the 725 messages received this year contained codes that appeared to reference Sterling Data Company.

Sterling is a data firm that helps Democratic organizations identify people likely to donate. Forbes reported in 2022 that the company had built a database of approximately 30 million political donors, including extensive information about some individuals. The firm says it uses data such as age, location, political activity and donation history to predict a person’s likelihood of giving to a candidate.

Financial records filed with the Federal Election Commission show that a Biden joint fundraising committee paid Sterling about $1.87 million for donor lists over four months beginning in November 2023. The DSCC made its first reported payment to Sterling on November 22, 2023, the same day one of its messages carried a Sterling-related tracking code. The committee also reported paying the company about $250,000 during the summer preceding another wave of messages with similar tags.

The messages came from dozens of campaigns and political action committees, including the DCCC, DSCC, James Talarico and Mark Kelly. Their websites and tracking systems appeared to use similar software, although it was not possible to establish who operated the system or whether all of the related codes were connected to Sterling.

Sterling CEO Martin Kurucz said frequent solicitation is a consequence of the limited number of people who donate and the effectiveness of large-scale texting. He confirmed that Sterling handles texting and can rent the same record to multiple campaigns. Kurucz said the company limits contact frequency but did not specify those limits.

He also acknowledged that no contact database is perfect. According to Kurucz, even moderately confident matches can be useful, while incorrect numbers typically disappear from circulation when recipients do not engage. He did not confirm that a Sterling error caused the messages in this case, but advised recipients not to respond.

At least two people have reached settlements with Democratic organizations over apparently misdirected campaign texts. Those cases did not establish how the wrong names became associated with their phone numbers, leaving the source of this particular mix-up unresolved.

Sources: WIRED.