ActBlue, the company that processes online campaign donations for Democrats, on Thursday booted New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo from its platform as he faced intensifying pressure to resign over findings by his state’s attorney general that he sexually harassed 11 women in violation of state and federal law.
Momentum is growing in the state legislature to impeach him over the damaging report, and at least one district attorney has announced a criminal investigation, with others seeking information that could lead to criminal probes. Cuomo (D), who has been governor since 2011, has previously said he would seek reelection in 2022.
Cuomo has not traditionally depended on small donors for his campaigns, relying instead on well-heeled contributors to cut him big checks. But the action by ActBlue, first reported by Axios, nonetheless signals how quickly the political tides have turned against the governor. He has been deserted by labor unions and prominent allies, including the chair of the state’s Democratic Party, Jay Jacobs.
An ActBlue page for Cuomo’s campaign committee was down as of Thursday afternoon, with a notice reading, “You have attempted to make a contribution to a fundraising page that has no active recipients: either the page’s owner has removed all committees or organizations from the page, or we have concluded processing contributions for these committees or organizations.”
A spokesman for ActBlue confirmed in an email that the company is no longer processing payments for Cuomo.
The action has precedent. The company stopped processing payments last year for Aaron Coleman, a 19-year-old Democratic candidate for the Kansas legislature who admitted to sending revenge porn when he was in middle school. Coleman ended up tweeting a statement he said he had received from ActBlue reading, “We are unable to work with your campaign moving forward as you are out of alignment with ActBlue’s mission.”