Is there ANY way to purge my phone number from candidates? APOLOGIES TO ACT BLUE

[Thunderbeast]

Last edited Thu Nov 27, 2025, 03:38 PM - Edit history (1)

I have been a generous donor to Democratic candidates for many years. While I first assumed that ACT BLUE was distributing the numbers, the organization corrected me. The distribution lists are sold by the candidate organizations themselves. My apologies to ACT BLUE!

The result is that my phone lights up with beg messages a dozen times a day. Blocking the number has no effect. It will only get worse in 2026.

I really wish I had given them my land line number instead.

[kysrsoze]

1. I have the same problem. It's one of my biggest regrets.

I wish they would create their own do-not-call list that you can sign onto.

[Starbeach]

2. Email OK, not texts

It's an insane intrusion.
STOP.

[Tree Lady]

3. I think they sell the numbers

Too because now I am on every list for money. Ugh!

[Attilatheblond]

21. Thinking a LOT of scammers bought the lists too

I get texts saying things like: Your donation will be matched 500 times but only if you DONATE NOW.

Um, yeah, NO!

[1WorldHope]

4. They really shot themselves in the foot by releasing our contact information to the universe.

I used to read the texts. I sometimes gave in because it seemed like a great candidate. Now, I either block them or delete them without any guilt. Who can donate 15 times a day to every democrat running for anything in every state?

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

5. I reply Stop2End or whatever the phrase is

[Thunderbeast]

7. Does that work?

I think the only thing the STOP message sends is that they have a live number to harass.

I try to mail the campaigns a paper check with a return street address. I include the following statement to keep the donation in compliance with election law:

"I certify that I am a retired US citizen."

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

15. Yes..it stops immediately for that politician.. use the atop phrase in the text

A few of them were texting me daily..I needed relief.. it works

[cksmithy]

19. It works.

We only use my husband's cell number for contact info, he was getting multiple texts a day. I finally started responding to the texts with their stop message. It took awhile, but it did work.

[returnee]

31. Problem is there's always someone else. n/t

[Grins]

29. No. I still get them.

The candidates often have multiple phones to contact you. Shutting down 1 leaves the other dozen able to reach you. And they do! And then you number is given/sold to 3rd parties - FOR PROFIT - and it begins again.

The Democratic Party has to crack down on this crap. It’s really pissing me off so it must be others too.

[drray23]

6. Personally, I view it as a small inconvience I can deal with

There are ways you can ignore the messages. I do not know of any cellphone plan anymore that charges you for incoming texts.
Personally, the frequency and origin of messages I get give me a good idea of where the election fights are heating up.
Now, of course, what I find acceptable, others may find annoying. There are ways you can try to reduce your exposure to these messages.

For example, if you have an iphone, you can filter out and mark these as spam. Here is an article covering this:

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/ios-26-can-easily-filter-out-texts-from-unknown-senders-heres-how/

On Android, you can funnel your texts through the Google Messages app, which will allow you to turn on the spam filter.

Here is an article on this : https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-block-spam-texts-on-android

[Omaha Steve]

8. It IS NOT ActBlue that is doing it

It is the candidates you donate to. They buy, sell, trade their donor lists!

From Act Blue.

Hi Steve,

Thanks so much for reaching out!

I'm happy to confirm that ActBlue will only share your information with the specific committees, campaigns, or organizations that you have contributed to. We share the information that they need to comply with relevant campaign finance laws and regulations, as well as your email address so that they can get in touch with you.

We don’t sell or otherwise transfer your information to any third parties. We also do not solicit on behalf of the organizations and campaigns that use our platform. If you or your donors are receiving solicitations from them, you will need to unsubscribe directly from the organization or campaign. I hope that this information is helpful.

Please feel free to be in touch if there’s anything else that I can do!

Best,
Sophie

[Thunderbeast]

12. Thank you for the correction. I will correct.

[Grins]

30. Then the DNC has to crack down on the candidates!

Pull this shit. - lose Party support.

They are under too much pressure to have to put up with this crap!

[MichMan]

9. Tell them to stop calling or you will vote for their opponents

[SunSeeker]

14. Why respond with a lie? nt

[RandySF]

10. It's too late once your number is out there.

It’s not an Act Blue issue because campaigns pass your information around.

[windje]

11. Change the phone number (and email) in your Act Blue profile.

[Joinfortmill]

13. You should be able to block the numbers

[txwhitedove]

16. It is Act Bluecause if you pull up the

message, it says giving is easy cause they have your Act Blue information. I respond: All support, no money. STOP. That takes care of only that particular candidate.

[Pepsidog]

17. iPhone new update screens calls for you which kind of helps.

[Botany]

18. Yes

Just block the phone # from calling you
again... you have to do that for every candidate or issue group that texts you.
After the obviously dirty election if '24 and
the lack of pushback by the dems to that
I'm done with sending them $.

BTW candidates make money by selling your name and contact information.

[Thunderbeast]

20. I block every number that sends election spam

The contractors have a large bank of originating numbers. They use a new number for each message.

[DeeDeeNY]

22. I have a problem similar to yours, but in my case ActBlue not only sold my information, but somehow got me

mixed up with someone else. I am in their records as a progressive male named Eric who lives in Denver, even though I'm a female who lives on Long Island and whose name does not even remotely sound like Eric. For the past few years I 've gotten constant text messages from various Democratic candidates running for office in the Denver area, telling me that I'm in their 'local' district and they would like my vote. Also from the U.S. Senators and the Governor. I also get texts from Dems running throughout the country, so I assume they are texting me as a Democrat and not necessarily living in Colorado, but they still all start Dear Eric!! After awhile it gets infuriating.

[JoseBalow]

23. Tell them you're 12 years old

This is a new number and I am 12, who is this?

[Gaugamela]

24. I use a separate email account for this purpose. It catches all the junk emails and I just ignore it.

[moonscape]

25. I get them and have never

given my cell but somehow it got on a list. It’s not terrible but annoying. I give my Google voice number when I have to and they can text there to their heart’s content.

[Wonder Why]

26. May I make a suggestion for those realizing what it means to give your cell number to everyone.

Almost all of us have an old cellphone we no longer use or keep in case our primary one fails and we have to move the sim card to the old one.

For the old one, get a REALLY INEXPENSIVE plan from a 3rd party. Min is $60/YEAR. Yes, per YEAR. Mine is from Red Pocket mobile but there are probably others like them. I get 100MB date, 1000 text messages and 200 minutes of calls per month. But mostly it stays at home and off. This is the number I give to all those third parties not my friends - you know, the politicians, the companies wanting to text you to tell you your order is accepted, being shipped, arriving soon, arriving today, and arrived. And those waiting lists for a table where they tell you that you finally get to sit down (but then take the phone with you).

Then the only time you see those junk messages is when you turn it on once a day. So peaceful!

[Mister Ed]

27. My sister-in-law gives so generously that she had to change her phone number.

My friend Ernie is a similarly generous donor, and his friends now find him unreachable by text or email. He doesn't have the time or patience to search through the solicitations to find the messages from his friends that are like needles in the proverbial haystack.

Alas, it's true: no good deed goes unpunished.

[markodochartaigh]

32. I'm in the same boat.

First it was my email. Even with unsubscribing to as much as I could my email became unusable. To be fair it was AOL, so it wasn't that great anyway.

Then it was texts, I'm now getting 5-10 a day. Maybe kids today get hundreds of texts a day and this text spam is nothing to them.

And the last few months phone calls have started. Of course everyone these days gets a couple of calls a day from scammers. But now I'm getting 5-10 political phone calls a day. As soon as my MINT mobile plan is up I'm going to get a new number.

I understand that we have a pay to play political system, and that the reason that we have it is because too many of us either didn't care or actually wanted a system where corporations are people and money is speech. But I don't see how badgering every poor person who ever gave a dollar is going to increase enthusiasm.

[Norrrm]

28. Don't be a cheap bahstard! Donate. Use this. Be generous.

PIN is 5311

[mercuryblues]

33. I stopped giving to them for this very reason

e-mails, texts, phone calls.

It took me 3 election cycles to get them manageable. The next big election, I'm sure they will be in full force.

[WiVoter]

34. Same Here