No. of Recommendations: 12
The run-up to the crucial 2026 midterms has begun. I have received e-mails from politicians in different states asking for donations. I unsubscribe from them. Even if I like the politician, a donation to one would put me on a shared mailing list and I would get a blizzard of e-mails from other politicians asking for money.
The 2026 midterm cycle is currently projected to be the most expensive in U.S. history, potentially rivaling the spending levels typically seen in presidential election years. Forecasting firms like AdImpact and Assembly are projecting that political ad spending alone will reach between $10.1 billion and $10.8 billion.
With control of both chambers of Congress essentially on a knife-edge, donors and PACs are treating almost every swing district as a must-win. That’s why the spending is so high, even though it’s not a presidential election year.
The money has to come from somewhere – lots of small donations and/ or large donations which are more likely to come with strings attached.
Gemini says:
" The “Data Broker” Problem
Unsubscribing from Candidate A should stop Candidate A. However:
Shared Ecosystems: Many campaigns use the same massive data platforms (like NGP VAN for Democrats or WinRed/Data Trust for Republicans). When you interact with one email, it “pings” your address as active and engaged, which can ironically make you more valuable to other campaigns on the same platform.
List Swapping: Even if you unsubscribe from one specific candidate, your email may have already been bundled into a “voter file” and sold or traded to other PACs or candidates before you hit that button.
Best Tactics for 2026
Since “unsubscribing” is a bit of an uphill battle, here are two more aggressive ways to “pull the weeds”:
Report as Spam: Instead of just unsubscribing, use your email provider’s “Report Spam” or “Junk” button. This trains the global filters (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) to recognize that specific sender as unwanted, which eventually blocks them for everyone and hurts the campaign’s ability to reach any inboxes.
Filters and Keywords: You can set up a “silent filter” in your settings to automatically archive or delete any email containing words like “Donation,” “Contribute,” “Deadline,” or “Urgent: Midterms.” This keeps them out of your sight without you having to touch a single one."
I also went to my e-mail Junk file and added the following blocks:
election
politics
candidate
*@ngpvan.com
*@redcurve.com
The last two are the massive firms that handle the mailing lists for thousands of candidates. Blocking the domain can sometimes be more effective than blocking individual words.
Wendy
