Exclusive: Bernie Taps Scandal-Hit ActBlue for Socialist Senate Takeover With Platner, El-Sayed, Flanagan
Platner is one of the candidates Sanders is backing through the joint fundraising page.

SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYRedState is an opinion-oriented, partisan outlet, which lowers its institutional credibility relative to general-news organizations. The page identifies an author and attributes some claims to other sources, but offers little transparency about the outlet’s editorial or corrections practices.
- Source type — Opinion-first partisan publisher; strong prior for a lower score.
- Editorial standards — The page uses overtly partisan and insulting language rather than a restrained reporting approach.
- Author attribution — A named author is provided.
- Transparency — Some claims are attributed to The New York Times and a named political spokesperson, but the page provides little information about corrections or broader editorial practices.
The article identifies its fundraising subject and attributes some claims about ActBlue to outside sources, but its framing is highly opinionated, relies substantially on a partisan spokesperson and offers little response or competing perspective. Several serious allegations and characterizations receive limited context in the piece.
HOW WE SCORE ↗The article is overwhelmingly critical of Sanders and the candidates, uses loaded language, and gives no substantive response from them or their campaigns. The only quoted political response comes from a Republican campaign spokesperson.
- Counterarguments presented — No response from Sanders or the candidates is presented.
- Loaded language — The author uses repeated insults and condemnatory descriptions.
- Source diversity — The article cites a New York Times report and a Republican spokesperson but supplies no opposing perspective.
- Opinion vs reporting — Opinion is plainly stated throughout and frequently blends with reporting.
The piece uses strongly negative language about Sanders, the candidates and Democrats, while presenting Republican criticism favorably. Its framing and word choice make the right-leaning perspective explicit.
- Language tone — Uses labels and insults such as “hard-left,” “socialist,” and “borderline nutjob.”
- Framing — Frames the fundraising effort as a dangerous partisan takeover rather than a routine campaign fundraising action.
- Source selection — Includes a Republican campaign spokesperson’s criticism without a comparable Democratic response.
- Headline — The headline foregrounds scandal and a “Socialist Senate Takeover.”
Bernie Sanders launched a joint fundraising page for three Democratic Senate candidates, using ActBlue, which the article says is under investigation over foreign-donation safeguards. The opinion piece criticizes Sanders and the candidates and characterizes the effort as a push to shift the Senate caucus left.
The article reports that Sanders is fundraising with Abdul El-Sayed, Peggy Flanagan and Graham Platner through an ActBlue page that links to his own. The page asks donors to help “transform the Democratic Senate caucus overnight.” The article cites reporting by The New York Times and describes congressional and Justice Department scrutiny of ActBlue over allegations about its handling of foreign donations and its statements to investigators.
The piece presents the fundraising effort as a partisan bid to reshape the Senate and sharply criticizes the candidates. It cites past statements by El-Sayed, Platner’s tattoo and Flanagan’s defense of a Somali community amid a Minnesota fraud scandal. A Republican National Senatorial Committee spokesperson also criticizes the effort and contrasts it with Republican priorities.
Community verdict
8 VOTESCounts every outlet’s report of this story. See all 4
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People in this story
SWIPE →Senate candidate and beneficiary of Sanders’s fundraising effort
Flanagan's version of this story ↗Senator and fundraiser for the candidates
Sanders's version of this story ↗Senate candidate and beneficiary of Sanders’s fundraising effort
El-Sayed's version of this story ↗President whose agenda is mentioned in an editor’s note
Part of a bigger story
4 OUTLETSCollins and Platner released contrasting ads in Maine’s Senate race. Platner’s ad criticizes Collins’s record, while Collins’s ad highlights her work for the state. Center outlets treat the ads as opposing campaign messages, with some attention to race spending and fundraising. Right-leaning outlets split: one focuses on the dueling ads and their possible effect on Senate control, while another frames Sanders’s fundraising support for Platner as a push to shift the Senate caucus left.
- ARTICLES
- 4
- OUTLETS
- 4
- AVG CRED
- 71
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