By Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is touting a surge of ActBlue contributions as evidence of grassroots enthusiasm. But one elderly Michigan woman whose name appears on thousands of Democratic donations says she had no idea the transactions existed—and could not possibly afford them, according to a new report by the Michigan Enjoyer.
Federal campaign finance records list Elizabeth Waffle, an 88-year-old living in a camp trailer on a dirt road in rural Michigan, as having donated nearly $150,000 to Democratic candidates and organizations over five years.
The money was allegedly distributed through 14,696 separate ActBlue transactions.
“This is very abnormal,” Waffle told Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Charlie LeDuff.
Waffle acknowledged making some donations to El-Sayed but said the sheer number and value of the contributions attributed to her made no sense.
“I think it’s wrong, and I think there’s something in there that’s off,” she said.
Waffle has lived in the trailer since her home burned down two years ago. Campaign finance records reportedly list donations from both the trailer and a temporary apartment, including transactions from the two addresses on the same day.
The contributions were directed not only to El-Sayed but also to out-of-state politicians Waffle said she had never heard of.
Waffle said she does not own a computer and has only limited internet access through her phone.
“One hundred and fifty thousand,” she said with a laugh. “Nell no. I don’t have that kind of money.”
The discovery threatens to complicate El-Sayed’s attempt to portray his ActBlue numbers as proof of a growing statewide movement.
His campaign announced Wednesday that it raised more than $3.3 million in July through 61,934 online donations from 49,689 individual donors. The average contribution was reported as $49.15.
“It’s clear which campaign has the momentum to launch a successful general election campaign,” campaign spokeswoman Sophie Pollock said in a statement. “While Haley Stevens fundraising shrinks, Abdul continues to bring new, diverse Michiganders into a movement that is growing by the day. To keep Michigan blue, we must nominate the most electable Democrat in this race.”
The campaign has also emphasized the volume of its ActBlue activity, reporting more than 26,000 donations through the platform in June and arguing that El-Sayed is attracting broader support than his Democratic opponent.
But Waffle’s account comes as ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s dominant online fundraising platform, faces federal scrutiny over allegations involving straw donors, fraudulent transactions and potentially illegal foreign contributions.
A House investigation identified at least 22 major suspected fraud campaigns conducted through ActBlue, with nearly half allegedly connected to foreign sources.
President Donald Trump raised similar concerns in an April 2025 memorandum directing federal agencies to investigate whether online fundraising platforms were being used to disguise prohibited contributions.
“During a 30-day window during the 2024 campaign, the platform detected 237 donations from foreign IP addresses using prepaid cards, indicating that this activity remains a pressing concern,” Trump wrote.
Earlier in the year, ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones invoked her Fifth Amendment rights 22 times while testifying before Congress.
Internal memoranda prepared by Covington & Burling reportedly warned that ActBlue’s protections against foreign donations had not always been applied consistently, potentially leaving the organization exposed to allegations that it knowingly allowed unlawful contributions.
The memoranda also raised concerns about payments made through services such as Apple Pay, PayPal and Venmo, where donors were not always required to verify that they were U.S. citizens.
ActBlue has denied wrongdoing and characterized the investigations as politically motivated.
“Partisan allegations against ActBlue are completely baseless,” the organization stated last year. “Let’s be clear: Donald Trump and his accomplices in the Republican party are targeting ActBlue as part of their brazen attack on democracy in America.”
Other elderly donors have also disputed large numbers of contributions recorded in their names. In a 2024 O’Keefe Media Group investigation, the husband of Texas resident Margaret Caylor was shown records allegedly attributing more than 5,000 ActBlue donations totaling roughly $136,000 to his wife. “Laundering money, maybe?” he responded.
El-Sayed’s campaign continues to present its ActBlue totals as evidence of broad support. But the thousands of contributions attributed to Waffle—an elderly woman living in a trailer who says she does not have anything close to $150,000—are likely to intensify questions about where at least some of that supposed grassroots money actually came from.
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