Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times,
A federal judge has barred Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from pursuing his state court lawsuit against ActBlue, a major Democratic online fundraising platform.
President Clinton-appointed U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns ruled Thursday that the case represented no more than a retaliation campaign for ActBlue’s political activities supporting Paxton’s opponent in the 2026 U.S. Senate race.
Stearns issued a preliminary injunction preventing Paxton from pursuing the Texas case. The judge found the lawsuit attempted to undermine protected political speech and therefore violated the First Amendment.
“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,” Stearns wrote in the ruling.
Neither Paxton’s office nor ActBlue immediately returned a request for comment.
Paxton filed the initial lawsuit in April in Texas state court as he campaigned as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat.
The suit singled out ActBlue, a Massachusetts-based fundraising platform that claims to have raised billions for Democratic candidates and causes since its founding in 2004. It sought civil penalties and an order blocking ActBlue from accepting certain gift card donations.
The Texas attorney general alleged that ActBlue employed deceptive practices after the fundraising platform resumed gift card and foreign prepaid debit card donations after informing Congress that it had ceased conducting the transactions. Paxton alleged the practices could empower foreign nationals to hide their identities while making political contributions, potentially in violation of state law.
The action mirrors wider Republican-led scrutiny of online fundraising platforms, which has included directives from the Trump administration to the Justice Department.
ActBlue responded with its own federal lawsuit filed in Boston in May. The platform contended that Paxton’s investigation and state court lawsuit amounted to unconstitutional retaliation designed to punish it for supporting Democratic candidates, namely Democrat James Talarico, Paxton’s opponent in the Texas Senate contest. ActBlue requested the court declare the actions violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments and to block them.
Stearns ruled on behalf of ActBlue on the preliminary request, criticizing what he said was Paxton’s history of filing retaliatory lawsuits. The injunction bars Paxton from advancing the state case.
ActBlue’s operations have received increased scrutiny lately. The platform’s CEO, Regina Wallace-Jones, appeared before a House Administration Committee hearing as panel Republicans questioned the organization’s processes for screening foreign contributions and more. Wallace-Jones invoked her Fifth Amendment right during the session. She wrote in an opinion article published in The Washington Post on the same day that she would do so “against self-incrimination.”
ActBlue has long been the primary vehicle for small-dollar donations to Democratic candidates and progressive organizations.
Thursday’s ruling allows ActBlue to continue operations while the related claims work their way through the legal system.