A political action committee (PAC) that backed Kamala Harris’ campaign has seemingly taken down its website after it was found to be soliciting donations in texts mentioning Alex Preti, shortly after he was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis.
A few posts on social media showed a screenshot of a fundraising text sent from a toll-free number on Saturday, which started with the phrase, “Alex Preti is the limit.” The message encouraged recipients to “Stay with us! Donate $50 for 200% MATCH.” This appeared to link to a donation page for the Democracy Youth Wave PAC on a popular Democratic fundraising platform. However, both the page and the PAC’s website were removed by the time of publication.
By Sunday morning, following the viral spread of the screenshot, the link in the text stated, “This fundraiser is currently not accepting donations,” and also led to a PAC website that, although still accessible, did not permit donations via the “Donate” button. Later, that site was taken down, and at the time of publication, its URL led to an error page indicating it wasn’t connected to any website yet.
Besides directly asking for $50 donations, the text message also called on Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to “end the operation,” seemingly backing various Democratic calls to remove federal immigration enforcement in states struggling with fraud issues.
John Hagner, who lives in Minneapolis, highlighted the fundraising message on social media on Saturday, advising anyone associated with the situation to resign immediately.
It’s still unclear if the fundraiser was accepting donations when Hagner made his post.
Before the PAC took down its website, the Daily Caller News Foundation attempted to contact Democratic Youth Wave for clarification on whether the donation link changed after the fundraising text was sent, but the contact information on the PAC’s website was broken at that time.
ActBlue’s account responded a couple of hours after Hagner’s post, clarifying that they are a tech platform that doesn’t write or endorse the messages sent by campaigns or causes. They acknowledged listening to feedback about exploitative practices.
Hagner noted the damage done by the conduct of users on the platform, implying that the situation needed addressing long ago. Another user remarked that Democracy Youth Wave had misspelled Walz’s name in a previous text.
According to records, Democratic Youth Wave’s “independent expenditures, communications, and coordination expenses” for the 2024 election cycle amounted to $196,714, primarily due to support for Harris’ unsuccessful presidential campaign.
Federal Election Commission data shows that total federal revenue to Democratic Youth Wave for the 2025-2026 cycle is $19,770, while total spending for that time is $292,137.48. The PAC had over $1 million in cash on hand as of the last reporting period ending September 30, 2025.
The PAC, based in Alpharetta, Georgia, has its financial representative listed as Nantambu Foley, who previously interned and worked with Democratic Representative Jonathan Jackson. Foley also runs a political podcast, although the episodes seem to be unavailable now.
The now-deleted website claimed a commitment to increasing youth turnout nationwide and empowering young Democrats to create a strong blue wave.
Democratic Youth Wave also maintained a YouTube channel, though active with only a few subscribers. One ad video had amassed around 72,000 views at the time of publication, featuring a quick response code for donations that was displayed briefly at the end.
