Osborn, Powell Tied to Questionable ActBlue Donations From 88-Year-Old Widow Living in Squalor
Matt Johnson
Plains Sentinel
August 12, 2026
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“A grassroots campaign of everyday Nebraskans outraised a family of billionaires by a million dollars with an average donation of just $40,” U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn said after his last fundraising haul was published[.]
One of these small donations came from a woman named Elizabeth Waffle.
…Waffle is an 88-year-old widow from Milan, Michigan, who has lived in a trailer since her home burned down two years ago. She subsists on a modest pension, does not own a computer, and has spotty internet connection on her property.
But according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, 14,696 donations were made in her name through ActBlue—the primary online fundraising platform used by Democratic candidates and progressive groups.
The contributions totaled more than $150,000 over the past five years—an average of about eight donations of $9.18 every single day. Waffle was completely unaware of most of the donations made in her name.
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According to FEC filings, some of these donations went to candidates in Nebraska: Osborn’s 2024 Senate campaign received over half a dozen small dollar donations from Waffle through ActBlue, while his exploratory committee received multiple donations from Waffle last year.
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The Plains Sentinel reached out to Powell, Osborn, and Backemeyer for comment but has not received a response.
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In conversations with The Plains Sentinel, political insiders said it is hard to gauge whether fraud through ActBlue is happening on a large scale or whether its a handful of isolated incidents. Part of difficulty arises because the platform has few safeguards, allowing bad actors to exploit it.
The Plains Sentinel spoke with Kendra Arnold, the executive director of the nonprofit Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), who said ActBlue requires little verification before accepting donations through its platform.
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ActBlue has come under scrutiny recently over allegations that its platform allows straw donations. Last year, President Trump ordered the Attorney General and Secretary of the Treasury to investigate the platform, claiming “significant fraud” from foreign actors.
Congress is also conducting its own investigation into the platform. On June 10, ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones was called to testify before Congress on the matter. She invoked her Fifth Amendment right 22 times, declining to answer nearly all substantive questions.
Read more here.
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