A political action committee that backed Kamala Harris’s campaign quietly pulled its website after being caught sending out fundraising texts tied to the death of Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. Apparently, some groups saw tragedy and thought, “Quick, send a donation link.”
Screenshots shared on X showed a fundraising text sent from a toll-free number that began with the words, “Alex Pretti is the limit,” and urged recipients to “Stand with us! Donate $50 for 200% MATCH.” The message appeared to link to a donation page for Democratic Youth Wave PAC hosted on ActBlue. Shortly after the screenshots went viral, both the donation page and the PAC’s website were taken down.
By Sunday morning, the link in the text led to a page stating, “This fundraiser is not currently accepting any donations.” It also directed users to the PAC’s website, which at the time was not allowing contributions through its donate button. Soon after, the site itself disappeared, with its URL leading to a Wix error page reading, “Looks like this domain isn’t connected to a website yet.” Funny how websites vanish when the spotlight turns on.
The fundraising text also urged Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to “END THE OPERATION,” aligning with Democratic calls to remove federal immigration enforcement agents from the state.
John Hagner, a Minneapolis-based partner at an analytics and polling company that supports Democratic candidates and left-wing causes, drew attention to the text Saturday afternoon, posting a screenshot and writing, “If you work for an organization or consultant that had anything to do with this you need to quit your job today.” It remains unclear whether the fundraiser was still accepting donations at the time of his post.
Before the PAC scrubbed its website, the Daily Caller News Foundation attempted to contact Democratic Youth Wave for comment and to ask whether the donation link had been changed after the text was sent. The PAC’s online contact form, however, appeared to be broken.
ActBlue responded to Hagner’s post about two hours later, saying it is “a tech platform” that does “not write or approve what campaigns and causes are sending.” It added that its team was “listening” and “exploring ways to address exploitative practices.” Hagner replied that the damage done to reputable fundraising was “immense and ongoing,” adding that the time for “exploring options” had passed.
An ActBlue spokesperson later told DCNF that the platform had “immediately contacted” Democratic Youth Wave once it became aware of the text message exploiting Pretti’s death. The spokesperson said the associated fundraising campaign was no longer active and that the platform was proactively refunding anyone who donated. The company added it was committed to ending that type of behavior.
Another X user replied to Hagner’s original post with a screenshot showing Democratic Youth Wave had misspelled Gov. Walz’s name as “Waltz” in an August 2024 text, suggesting attention to detail was not exactly a top priority.
Open Secrets lists $196,714 in independent expenditures and communication costs for Democratic Youth Wave during the 2024 election cycle, all in support of Harris’s failed presidential bid. The PAC does not list spending for any other cycle dating back to 2000.
