Summary
This document provides information about the excessive unsolicited Republican political text messages being distributed by some users of the WinRed platform. For additional background and context, see “Many RNC WinRed Text Messages 2024.”
There seems to be very limited administrative oversight of the WinRed platform. Concerns expressed by Republican leadership and Republican grassroots donors are not being addressed. This document doesn’t intend to provide complaints, but instead offer solutions.
Quick Tips
Most people are reading this document to find out how to stop the flood of unsolicited text messages that utilize the WinRed platform. So, these Quick Tips are provided at the top to save you time.
After many attempts and different methods last year, with hundreds of “STOP” requests sent, it seems that there isn’t currently a way to stop the flood of text messages. There’s either nobody in charge, or the people in charge don’t care.
However, her are a few ways to manage the messages.
TIP #1 — Known Senders
Set your text message filter (view) to “Known Senders” and this will give you a clean list of your desired text messages. When viewing messages on an iPhone, you can tap on the word “Filters” in the upper left corner. Other phones may have a different method of filtering out non-legitimate messages.
TIP #2 — Daily Cleaning of Unknown Senders
At the end of the day, use the “Unknown Senders” view and take a few minutes to cleanup the list of many messages from unknown senders by deleting them. Follow the instructions below in Tip #3 for some prevention suggestions.
TIP #3 — Prevention
For messages where the sender discloses who they are, and the message seems legitimate, even if you never signed up, reply with the word “Stop” (without quotes) and you should get a confirmation that you’re no longer subscribed. If a sender does not respond to your “Stop” request, then use the “Report Junk” option to delete, report as junk and perhaps block the sender. You can also report any messages that seem deceitful, manipulative, and sleazy. This, along with other people submitting reports, alerts the phone service provider to the bulk text message spam problem.
TIP #4 – Reward
You may wish to make a small (few dollars) donation to those who seem to be using the WinRed platform honestly and ethically. Perhaps send an email or letter of appreciation to their campaign staff. Over time, if more people do this, it would convey that there is diminishing support of liars and scammers, and increasing support of honest ethical competent people.
TIP #5 – Alternate Platforms
Some donation platforms for political candidates and causes seem to be better managed than WinRed. For example, the Anedot.com platform is used by leaders such as Steve Scalise. [View Page]
Anedot.com is a non-partisan service used primarily by nonprofit organizations, political campaigns, churches/ministries, and colleges/universities/schools to facilitate online fundraising and donations.
If you give to political leaders who use Anedot, other political leaders may start using Anedot and stop using WinRed. Donations given through Anedot do not seem to result in unsolicited emails, phone calls, or text messages.
Intended Audience
This document is written as a guide for those who may have an interest in the integrity of the RNC brand, and effectiveness of fundraising efforts.
The long-term wellbeing of the Republican Party is of interest to everyone and impacts everyone regardless of their party affiliation or political views. A dysfunctional Republican Party could underserve and possibly harm millions of people.
This document may also be useful for anyone generally interested in making better use of group messaging platforms.
Document Goals
This document aims to provide some insights into the current problems, and how message recipients can help manage the excessive unwanted text messages.
Offline, we are reaching out directly to Republican leaders to suggest improvements to the WinRed platform use. We are contacting those who are responsible, honest, and ethical users of the WinRed platform. It’s a small number of leaders. We are thanking them for leading by example. See Tip #4 and Tip #5 above.
Why it Matters: Impact
The dysfunction and counterproductive use of the WinRed platform is a problem that is narrow in scope and one that many people can agree on. It’s an opportunity for people to agree on the benefits of ethical and honest messaging. That could spread to other areas, and begin to correct for the ethical corrosion and erosion that might exist elsewhere.
- Note: Unethical and dishonest people will resist any move toward integrity in any area, even if it doesn’t impact them directly. They feel threatened by common core values that might highlight their failings. So while the observations and suggestions in this document may seem reasonable and practical, they will be resisted by some.
Problem Explained
On 28 Sep 2024, Republican legislator Jen Kiggans sent out a text message, linked to WinRed, stating: “I’m so incredibly sorry that some politicians send you 30 text messages a day. I’m sorry some of these folks pretend to be President Trump when the $ doesn’t go to his campaign. I’m sorry they do things like make you pay just to submit a survey.”
More recently, on 28 March 2025, Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise sent out a text message, linked to WinRed, stating: “I am genuinely sorry. Really, I am. I am sorry some folks threaten to remove you from the GOP if you don’t donate. I am sorry some folks masquerade as President Trump to try and fool you. I am sorry some folks don’t even thank you for donating. It is enough to drive you nuts. And I completely understand how you feel because I get the same messages. This is Steve Scalise. First of all, I want to personally thank you for everything you’ve done to help elect Trump and Republicans.”
There have been other messages similar to the ones above from Republican leaders who seem frustrated with how others are using (and misusing) the WinRed platform.
As was thoroughly explained in our 2024 report, there are many long-time Republican donors who are upset with the quantity and quality of text messages with links to the WinRed platform.
Text Message Quality Rank
This year we are developing a ranking system for evaluating text message quality. Here are the criteria with the points value for each if the criteria is completely met. The last two criteria each have a 20 point value.
- REQUESTED [10 Points] — Is it from a sender you explicitly requested to receive updates from? Or, perhaps from an organization you may have inadvertently agreed to have share your contact information with others?
- STOP OPTION [10 Points] — If you reply to a text with a “STOP” request, do you get an instant response confirming that you are no longer subscribed? A legitimate sender will provide a quick response, and you can always send START to begin again.
- If you reply “STOP” to a message and the number you’re reaching no longer exists, that suggest the sender didn’t want their identity known or didn’t want to be held accountable for text message spam.
- SENDER IDENTITY [10 Points] — Is the sender identity provided in the text message? You should know what person or team has sent you the message.
- A poor quality text message does not disclose who the sender is. The mystery of an unknown sender is intended to entice you to click on the link in the message.
- KNOWN NUMBER [10 Points] — Does the sender use a single known published number for their messages? This number is typically provided on their website. Upon signing up for messages you may get a text stating, “This is the only number you will receive messages from me.” That is the ethical and competent way to communicate with supporters.
- An unethical sender may use a different number each time they send you a message, so that your efforts to unsubscribe or block them do not work.
- DIRECT SOURCE [10 Points] — Is the message directly from a known leader or authorized group?
- Some unscrupulous people will pretend to be a “MAGA Patriot” or “Defender of Liberty” or similar labels with claims of helping or supporting well-known people and causes. Yet, it turns out they are not affiliate with any politician or approved group.
- FULL MESSAGE [10 Points] — Is the main content of the message included in the text?
- A poor quality message may entice you to click a link where you can read a message from the sender, but very little information is actually provided in the text message.
- TRUSTED LINKS [20 Points] — Does the text message contain direct links to known trusted websites?
- Poor quality messages may use unfamiliar links that ultimately forward you through trackers and possible cookie stealers before sending you to the WinRed platform.
- TRUTHFUL [20 Points] — Is the message truthful and accurate?
- A poor quality message may have false statements. For example, on 28 March 2025 a WinRed linked text message claiming to be from Senator Kennedy stated, “Is it true, Friend? You said you’d pitch in $25 to my next goal… Hopefully, I heard you correctly.” There was obviously no conversation with Senator Kennedy where he would have “heard” a $25 pledge of support. Shared above on this page are messages from Republican leaders acknowledging lies and misrepresentations by some users of the WinRed platform. These unethical practices need to stop.
A perfect score is 100. The above criteria are reasonable expectations. Senders who meet the above criteria should be recognized, supported, and appreciated.
The above criteria are a good list for senders to use as a guide when developing their own bulk text message campaigns.
Exemplary Leaders
Based on the above criteria, the following leaders and their teams have been exemplary in their proper use of fundraising communications. Leaders are listed here in alphabetical order by first name.
- Byron Donalds — Running for Governor of Florida.
- Nikki Haley — No longer seems to be using WinRed but was a responsible user in the past meeting the above criteria.
- JD Vance — Vice President. Mostly meets the above criteria, but seems to use random numbers for distributing text messages.
- Marco Rubio — U.S. Secretary of State. Generally tries to dial down the inflammatory and exaggerated rhetoric in his messaging.
- Steve Scalise — House Majority Leader
- Vivek Ramaswamy — Running for Governor of Ohio.
The only room for improvement would be to dial down the exaggerated rhetoric that seems to be a pervasive problem with all political campaigns regardless of party. Also, there should be a clear opt-in path for receiving messages. Most of the messages received were not explicitly requested.
Why You Should Care
Those opposed to the Republican Party may see the current state of WinRed platform disarray as something positive. From their perspective, it’s another example they can point to that demonstrates incompetence, chaos, lies, and unethical worst practices. It’s causing the Republican Party to lose supporters and contributions.
Yet ultimately, regardless of a person’s political leanings or lack of interest in politics, if the Republican Party mutates into a cabal of unethical, cruel, vicious, lying, selfish, bullies who are engaged in an ongoing turf war power struggle that destroys civilization, it would be unpleasant for everyone.
If instead, the Republican Party evolves into a familiar association of traditional conservatives, who are ethical, competent, and honest, following principles of the “compassionate conservative” movement, you may disagree with them, but at least we won’t experience the complete downfall of society.
It’s a time right now for everyone to consider what future we want, and to work toward that future. Making even small progress in the right direction can have long-term positive impact.