Brace Yourself! You’re About to Get a Lot More Political Fundraising Emails Before the Midterms—Here’s Why and What to Do About It
In a democracy, elections are our collective voice—even if, in our specific democracy, the loudest voices seem to be a bunch of email marketers. That’s going to be especially apparent this midterm season, which is well underway ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Warm up that delete finger, because it will be getting a workout.
Why? Well, just when you thought your inbox couldn’t get any more stuffed with stuff you don’t want to read, a major email carrier recently launched new fundraising rules for political groups. And you can be certain they will take advantage of them. How much can possibly fit into our already-at-capacity inboxes? Just you wait. Things are about to get way worse—but there is something you can do about it. Read on for the details.
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Why are we about to get an avalanche of political fundraising emails?
Google recently launched a new Gmail Verified Sender Program, which will allow “eligible, verified political committees” to send “policy-compliant and non-abusive messages” straight to your email inbox, bypassing the spam filter.
The program is open to candidates, political parties, political action committees (PACs) and similar groups registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) or other election authorities. To qualify, political senders must be verified, send emails from a public domain and keep spam below 0.3% of the total number of email they send. If users mark more than 0.3% as spam when the emails come in, senders can get suspended for seven days or booted from the program.
The policy went into effect on Sept. 8, so the new reality is well underway.
Why did Google think this was a good idea?
One reason Google may have decided to allow increased political fundraising is to reduce the number of lawsuits it’s had to respond to. The Republican National Committee (RNC) sued Google in 2022 for “throttling” its email messaging campaigns with its spam filters. The case was dismissed, but the RNC appealed. In January 2026, the RNC lost again.
Also in 2022, the RNC and the Republican Senate and Congressional campaign committees filed a joint complaint with the FEC over Google’s spam filters, which they accused of intentionally censoring their messages. The FEC dismissed the complaint. Other lawsuits and complaints over the years have met similar fates.
But back to the original question. Given the lack of a big announcement by the company, it’s not clear that Google does think it’s a good idea, at least in terms of pleasing Gmail recipients. Google quietly updated its Help Center website to reflect the policy change, underscoring the idea that it anticipates users will not be happy with the increased email traffic.
And this isn’t the first time Google tried this. Back in 2022, the company launched a pilot program that also prevented political emails from being filtered as spam. Comments to the FEC were uniformly negative, according to a review of hundreds of them by Axios.
Aside from an overflowing inbox, are there any other potential dangers?
The main one has less to do with the volume of spam and more with the senders themselves. Being verified under this program doesn’t tell you anything about the fundraisers’ business practices or where your money will go.
“I did a lot of work in Congress to crack down on scam PACs that send you fundraising,” Katie Porter, a former Democratic congresswoman from California, told CNN when the policy became public. “They say they’re going to help elect veterans, but when you look at where the money goes, 99.99% of the money goes back into the pockets of political consultants. This doesn’t do anything to tackle that.”
Another risk is scammers trying to mimic a legitimate political group to solicit funds, harvest your data or hack your accounts. In 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged three people with fraudulently soliciting $3.5 million from unsuspecting givers. And just before the 2024 election, the FBI warned of phishing scams, merchandise “no-shipment” scams and other fraudulent activity masked as legitimate political correspondence.
Is there any way to stop the deluge of emails?
You can reduce them, but it’s unlikely you can stop them completely. Here are four options.
- Click unsubscribe. Google recommends that senders offer a one-click unsubscribe button, so use it. You can also open the message and navigate to the unsubscribe options at the company’s website.
- Create a filter. In the search bar at the top, click the “show search options” icon to show filters. Or click the box next to an unwanted email, then hit the three dots menu and select “filter messages like these.”
- Mark the email as spam. If a company does not unsubscribe you, mark the emails as spam. Know that this will not unsubscribe you, but it will send the emails automatically to your spam inbox.
- Block the sender. If you want nothing else from the sender at all, open the email, hit the three dots “more” menu and select “Block [sender].”
Sources:
- Google: “Gmail Verified Sender Program eligibility & policies”
- New York Times: “Google Just Made It Easier for Campaigns to Send You Fund-Raising Emails”
- Fox News: “Gmail change may flood your inbox with political email”
- Reuters: “US appeals court rejects RNC lawsuit claiming Google email spam filters harmed fundraising”
- CNN: “FEC dismisses RNC complaint that Google’s spam filters were biased against conservatives”
- CNN Transcripts: “The Story Is with Elex Michaelson, Aug. 19, 2026”
- U.S. Election Assistance Commission: “Alert – Misleading Voter Registration Phishing Email”
- DOJ: “Three Individuals Charged with $3.5 Million Scheme to Collect Contributions for Fraudulent Political Action Committees”
- Axios: “Leave campaign emails in spam, FEC commenters demand”
The post Brace Yourself! You’re About to Get a Lot More Political Fundraising Emails Before the Midterms—Here’s Why and What to Do About It appeared first on Reader's Digest.
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