You are getting political texts because your phone number is in one of four places campaigns draw from: the state voter file, commercial data matched to that file, a donation or petition form you filled out, or an event or volunteer sign-up; and because the FCC's rules let a person send a political text to your cell phone without your prior consent, as long as the sender honors your STOP. Nothing in that is a leak or a scam. It is how voter contact works, and it is why the fix is STOP to each sender rather than any single switch. Each source below says where the number came from and what you can do about that one.
Source 1: the voter file
When you register to vote, the form usually asks for a phone number, and in many states that number becomes part of the voter registration list that political parties, candidates and in some states anyone may obtain. The National Conference of State Legislatures keeps a state-by-state table of what the list contains and who can get it. Two examples from it: Arizona's list includes full name, party preference, date of registration, residence and mailing address, zip code, phone number, birth year, occupation, voting history and early voting information; California's includes name, date of birth, registration date, addresses, precinct, contact information (telephone number and email address) and party preference, available to candidates, parties and others the law names. Many states restrict the list to political and election uses and bar commercial resale; several allow specific people, such as domestic violence survivors and certain public officials, to keep their information confidential. Source: NCSL, Access to and Use of Voter Registration Lists (opens in a new tab), read October 26, 2026.
This is the primary source for most of what arrives in a general election. A campaign that wants to reach every likely voter in a district starts from this file, which is why you hear from candidates you have never interacted with. What you can do: the phone field is optional in most states, so leave it blank or remove it the next time you update your registration; check your state's row in the NCSL table for a confidentiality option if you qualify; and reply STOP to each sender, which works whatever the source.
Source 2: data matched to the voter file
Where the voter file has no phone number, or a stale one, campaigns and their vendors buy commercial data (the same consumer records that feed marketing databases) and match it to the file by name and address. That is how a number you never gave to any political organization ends up on a campaign list, and why a wrong number sometimes gets a text meant for a previous holder. What you can do: STOP works regardless; if the texts are for a different person, say so in the reply, because a compliant program removes the number either way. Matched data is also what makes phone records a priced product on vendors' rate cards; FullPAC's direct-to-campaign brand publishes its per-record prices, which gives a sense of how routine the matching is.
Source 3: donation and petition forms
If you gave a phone number when you donated, signed a petition or took an online action, the committee that owned that form has it, and the form's fine print decides whether it can be shared with allied groups. Fundraising texts with WinRed or ActBlue links come from the committee whose page the link opens, not from the platform: WinRed says it does not send the texts and shares a donor's information only with the campaign or organization donated to; ActBlue says it never texts, that the phone number is optional at donation, and that it passes it to the group you gave to and no one else. Both are quoted, with the steps for each, in How to stop WinRed and ActBlue texts. What you can do: reply STOP to the committee; look at the form's consent language before you give a number next time; and remove the phone from your donor profile where the platform lets you.
Source 4: event, volunteer and keyword sign-ups
Texting a keyword to a short code, filling in a rally RSVP, or signing up to volunteer is the one source that is true consent, and it is the one source that a committee can use to send automated and autodialed texts lawfully. Those forms carry the disclosures the carriers require (who is texting, about what, how often, how to stop), and the consent is what lets a program send at scale without a person pressing each send. What a compliant form looks like, and what the disclosures have to say, is in Opt-in and consent for political texting; what you are agreeing to when you sign up on purpose is in How to sign up for political text alerts.
Why a text without your consent can still be legal
The FCC's rule for campaigns separates two kinds of sending: autodialed texts to a cell phone require your prior express consent, and texts sent manually can be sent without it. A manually sent text is one where a person presses send on each message, which is what peer-to-peer texting is; it is the sending model behind most of the texts people get from campaigns they never heard of, and it is lawful. The same rules make the sender honor your STOP, bar autodialed texts to your cell without consent, and exempt campaign calls and texts from the National Do Not Call Registry. Source: FCC, Political Campaign Robocalls and Robotexts Rules (opens in a new tab), reviewed March 5, 2025, read October 26, 2026.
| How it reached you | Needs your consent? | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| A person sent it by hand (peer-to-peer) | No | Reply STOP; the sender must honor it |
| An autodialer sent it (broadcast) | Yes, prior express consent | If you never consented, forward to 7726 and file with the FCC; also reply STOP |
| You texted a keyword or ticked a box | That was the consent | Reply STOP to revoke it |
| Same committee keeps texting after STOP | Not allowed | 7726 and an FCC complaint |
How peer-to-peer programs run, and why the rule exists, is in Peer-to-peer texting, explained. What a text that follows the rules looks like is in Political text message examples.
Why the sender's number keeps changing
Every organization that texts through a platform registers its program with the carriers, and a registered program sends from a pool of local numbers rather than one, so the same committee can reach you from several numbers while your STOP applies to the whole program. The registration system (10DLC, for ten-digit long code) ties the numbers to one brand and one campaign, which is also how carriers know who to hold responsible. A new number after your STOP is almost always a different committee; if it is the same one, it is out of compliance. The sender's side of registration is in the 10DLC Quick Start; why some programs use a short code or a toll-free number instead is in 10DLC vs short code vs toll-free.
Why there are so many right now
Texting is the cheapest direct contact a campaign has, a few cents a message, and the last three weeks before an election are when every committee in a contested race runs turnout programs at once: reminders of where and when to vote, mail-ballot chases, and election-eve pushes. Searches for how to stop political texts peaked at more than ten times their normal level in October 2024 for exactly this reason. What those programs look like from the sender's side is in GOTV text message templates and What is GOTV?; the volume drops the day after the election, and STOP handles the fundraising texts that continue.
Cutting them off at the source
- Reply STOP to every new sender. It reaches the committee's list, which is the only place the texts come from.
- Leave the phone field blank on voter registration updates, or remove it; check your state's confidentiality rules in the NCSL table if you qualify.
- Read the consent line before giving a number on a donation, petition or event form, and remove the phone from donor profiles you no longer want texting you.
- Screen unknown senders and turn on carrier spam tools for the volume that remains; the steps are in How to stop political text messages.
- Report the rule-breakers. Autodialed texts without consent, or a STOP ignored: 7726 and the FCC.
How the compliant end of the industry handles this
A program that follows the rules registers each committee with the carriers under its own name, captures and records consent where it collects it, names the sender in every message, enforces send windows in the voter's time zone, and suppresses a STOP across every number it uses, immediately. That is the standard the programs on FullPAC's platform are held to, and the full rulebook is in Political texting compliance. It is also the reason STOP works: the rule that lets a campaign text you once is paired with the rule that makes it stop.
Questions people ask
Why am I getting political texts from campaigns I never signed up with? Because campaigns do not need your sign-up to text you manually. Under the FCC's rules, political texts sent to a cell phone with an autodialer require your prior express consent, but messages sent manually, by a person pressing send on each one, can be sent without it. Peer-to-peer texting programs are built on that rule, and they draw their lists from the voter file and other public and commercial sources, not from sign-ups. They still have to honor STOP.
How did a campaign get my cell phone number? The most common source is your voter registration. In many states the phone number you wrote on the form is part of the voter file that parties, candidates and sometimes the public can obtain; NCSL's state table lists Arizona's list as including phone number and California's as including telephone number and email, for example. After that: commercial data matched to the voter file, the phone number you gave on a donation, petition or event form, and lists shared within a party's ecosystem where the form you filled out allowed it.
Does the Do Not Call Registry apply to political texts? No. The FCC says campaign calls and texts are exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry requirements. The registry governs telemarketing. For political texts the remedies are STOP (which the sender must honor), blocking and screening on your phone, your carrier's spam tools, 7726, and an FCC complaint when a rule was broken.
Are political texts spam? Legally, usually not. Spam in the carrier sense is unsolicited commercial or fraudulent messaging; a political text from a registered sender, identified as such, with an opt-out, sent by a person, is a lawful message you did not ask for. Unwanted and unlawful are different things, and the difference decides what works: STOP and screening for unwanted, 7726 and the FCC for unlawful.
Why does the number keep changing? Registered political texting programs send from a pool of local numbers rather than one, so that no single number carries all the traffic. Your STOP is recorded against the program, so a compliant sender stops on every number at once. A new number after STOP is almost always a different committee; if it is the same committee, it is breaking the rules and 7726 plus an FCC complaint is the route.
How do I get my number out of the voter file? You generally cannot remove yourself from the file while staying registered, and in most states the phone field is optional, so the practical step is to leave it blank or remove it the next time you update your registration. Some states allow confidentiality for specific categories such as domestic violence survivors and certain officials; NCSL's table lists them. What you can always do is reply STOP to each sender, which ends that committee's texts regardless of where the number came from.
Will the texts stop after the election? Turnout texting stops when polls close. Fundraising texting continues year-round at a lower rate, and it is list-driven, so STOP to each fundraising sender is what carries into the next cycle.