“A federal court in Massachusetts is wrong to prevent Texas from enforcing its own consumer protection laws against entities doing business in our State,” Paxton said in a press release.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is planning to appeal a federal court ruling preventing the state from enforcing its consumer protection laws against ActBlue.
In a press release, Paxton said that the ruling, which was issued by a Massachusetts-based district court, effectively prevents his office from “proceeding with a Texas lawsuit to enforce Texas consumer protection laws against ActBlue.”
ActBlue, a digital platform used to raise funds for Democratic candidates, is accused by Paxton’s office of failing to adopt certain safeguards. Paxton, for instance, claims that ActBlue continued to process donations in the form of gift cards even after promising to cease the practice. The lawsuit, filed in April 2026 in a Texas state court, suggests that ActBlue violated the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act because it “misrepresented the services and safeguards it provided to campaigns and consumers.”
Less than a month later, in May, ActBlue filed its own lawsuit against Paxton. In its complaint, ActBlue observed that Texas began investigating its practices only after Democratic Rep. James Talarico raised $2.5 million within 24 hours of his appearance on Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk-show. Notably, both Talarico and Paxton are running for U.S. Senate in November.
Earlier this year, a Massachusetts-based federal court barred Paxton from attempting to try ActBlue in state court. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Richard Gaylore Stearns said that Paxton’s actions against ActBlue were clearly motivated by political ambition.
“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 his April order.
Paxton’s office notes that Stearns’ April order was followed by another ruling in June, preventing the attorney general’s office from “continuing to litigate the Texas case or bringing another state enforcement action based on the same conduct.”
Paxton’s appeal argues that the Massachusetts-based court had no right to shut down the Texas lawsuit; he also says that Stearns “mischaracterized” the state’s claims.
“A federal court in Massachusetts is wrong to prevent Texas from enforcing its own consumer protection laws against entities doing business in our State,” Paxton said in a press release. “ActBlue represented that it no longer accepted gift card donations, yet our investigators made multiple gift card donations through its platform. We will fight for our right to hold companies accountable when they misrepresent the services that they provide to Texans.”
Paxton is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to reverse the preliminary injunction and direct the lower court to dismiss ActBlue’s federal-level lawsuit.
Sources
AG Ken Paxton blocked from suing Democratic donor platform ActBlue
Paxton Appeals Federal Court Order Blocking Texas Lawsuit Against ActBlue
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