A new investigation has been launched into one of Congress’s most outspoken progressive Democrats. On April 2, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) opened a formal probe into Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) following a complaint filed by the conservative Coolidge-Reagan Foundation. The complaint, submitted on March 26, focuses on questionable donations to Crockett’s 2024 re-election campaign made through ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s primary fundraising platform.
According to the FEC’s letter to the foundation, “The respondents will be notified of this complaint within five business days.” The letter, written by FEC Assistant General Counsel Wanda D. Brown to Dan Backer, a Washington attorney representing the foundation, adds, “You will be notified as soon as the Federal Election Commission (FEC) takes final action on your client’s complaint. Should you receive any additional information in this matter, please forward it to the Office of the General Counsel.”
The complaint cites a specific donor who allegedly made 53 separate contributions totaling $595 to Rep. Crockett’s campaign via the ActBlue platform, the Daily Signal reported. According to the filing, the donations were attributed to 73-year-old Texas resident Randy Best. However, in a video circulated by Crockett’s potential 2026 challenger, Sholdon Daniels, Best’s wife denied any knowledge of the contributions. The complaint argues this raises the possibility that Best—and potentially other individuals—may not have actually made the donations listed under their names on ActBlue.
The broader concern, according to the Coolidge-Reagan Foundation’s FEC complaint, is that Rep. Crockett’s campaign received approximately $870,000 in total contributions through ActBlue. That total includes the $595 attributed to Randy Best, a resident of Plano, Texas. “Rep. Crockett, through her principal campaign committee Respondent Jasmine for US, has received thousands of other donations through ActBlue totaling over $870,000,” the FEC complaint says. “It is unclear how many of these are similarly fraudulent transactions, made in the name of unsuspecting innocent people who did not actually provide the funds.”
ActBlue’s fundraising practices have come under scrutiny from congressional Republicans and GOP state attorneys general. As noted in the FEC complaint, The Daily Signal previously reported that several elderly Americans claimed they were unaware of donations made in their names through ActBlue. Rep. Crockett now has 15 days to respond to the allegations, though the FEC often grants 30- or 60-day extensions, according to attorney Dan Backer.
Crockett is not the only Democrat receiving contributions through the ActBlue platform. Republican-led investigations—including one by the GOP-controlled House Oversight and Accountability Committee—are also examining ActBlue’s broader fundraising operations.