An Astounding Number of Kari Lake’s Donors Want Their Money Back

Conservative donors have disputed hundreds of campaign contributions sent to Kari Lake, the former Arizona Senate candidate who is now helping Donald Trump dismantle Voice of America.

Even though Lake lost her bid to be a senator from Arizona in November, Federal Election Commission records show that she has continued to collect thousands of small-dollar donations through WinRed, the conservative counterpart to the liberal fundraising platform ActBlue.

Lake’s donations have drawn what political consultants said is a high rate of chargebacks, a reversed charge initiated by a donor’s bank after they dispute the transaction. Chargebacks are often considered a last-resort option for donors who can’t secure refunds. Lake, who once criticized a fellow Republican for a high rate of refunds, has drawn one chargeback for every seven donations in the first quarter of 2025, FEC records show.

At a time when Trump is targeting ActBlue for a Justice Department investigation, critics said Lake’s chargebacks serve as a red flag for potentially questionable fundraising tactics.

Lake did not respond to a request for comment sent to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Voice of America’s parent agency, where she is working as senior adviser appointed by Trump.

Democratic consultant Julia Rosen said she was taken aback at the high dispute rate: About 15 percent of all Lake’s contributions in the latest campaign finance report were subject to chargebacks, and 16.5 percent of those made through WinRed.

“For a party that preaches morality, it is outrageous that they would treat their own donors this poorly,” she said. “It just shows a level of disrespect that is hard to comprehend.”

Racking Up Chargebacks

Lake, a former local TV news anchor, ran for Arizona governor then senator as a far-right firebrand, distinguishing herself as Trump-loving election denier.

Along the way, Fox News appearances propelled her into a favorite of the MAGA rank and file. Small-dollar donations poured in through WinRed, the juggernaut GOP fundraising platform.

Lake had less luck at the ballot box, however, running far behind Trump during her November loss to Democrat Ruben Gallego.

In December, Trump announced that he would tap Lake to lead Voice of America. By the time she was sworn in March 3, the role had morphed into a senior adviser position at VOA’s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

After both Trump’s announcement and her swearing-in, Lake has continued to collect donations — largely small-dollar contributions. So far this year, Lake has collected 3,923 donations, according to FEC records. Nearly 98 percent of them were $200 or less.

Lake’s latest FEC report points to one reason why she has continued to raise money: She has over $1 million in outstanding debt to campaign vendors. That is by far the most of any losing Senate candidate, according to a recent Arizona Republic article. Her campaign filing flags her donations as going toward debt retirement.

Many of Lake’s contributions come from individuals who have repeatedly given identical, small amounts of money through WinRed — a common hallmark of the automatic, recurring donations that the platform offers to campaigns.

Lake actively promoted recurring donations through WinRed ahead of the election, saying that they gave her the “best chance to win.”

Yet a review of Lake’s most recent campaign finance report suggests that some of her donors have been displeased to find Lake’s name on their bill.

In total, 568 of her individual transactions were identified as chargebacks. Compared to the positive transactions listed in the report, that works out to a 14 percent chargeback rate.

Two Democratic campaign consultants said the number was remarkably high. Josh Nelson, an ad platform CEO who has also criticized ActBlue for its fundraising tactics, said that it “seems like a lot.”

Rosen, a former ActBlue employee who has frequently used the progressive platform in campaigns, said the number should ideally be below 1 percent. Even at a time when Trump was facing criticism over his fundraising practices, his campaign said he had a 0.87 percent credit card dispute rate.

“This reeks of malpractice,” Rosen said.

Lake’s campaign website no longer has a homepage, although a separate donation page is live. Nelson said the rate of chargebacks in Lake’s campaign finance report raised questions about whether the campaign is honoring or responding to refund requests.

The vast majority of the chargebacks were associated with donations bundled by WinRed. Of the numerous GOP candidates slapped with chargebacks for WinRed contributions this year, none of their campaign finance reports identified chargebacks at rates anywhere near Lake’s, according to FEC data. Data on other candidates’ chargebacks may be missing if they failed to report them.

Lake’s 16.5 percent chargeback rate was even over the top by WinRed’s own standards. According to WinRed’s website, a monthly dispute rate over 1.79 percent is tagged as “excessive.”

Recurring Problem

WinRed has faced repeated criticism over recurring donations, oftentimes from critics who say they had been deployed in misleading ways.

Trump, for instance, faced criticism in 2021 for hard-nosed tactics such as burying a pre-checked recurring donation option beneath a mountain of text. From the start of 2020 through June 2021, he and the Republican Party refunded $135 million to donors, according to the New York Times, in a sign that many were turned off by his fundraising ploys.

While maintaining close ties to WinRed, Trump and the GOP have launched a legal and political assault against ActBlue, the Democratic platform that has facilitated fundraising for everyone from school board candidates to Kamala Harris. Many nonprofits, including The Intercept, use ActBlue Charities to process donations.

According to its website, ActBlue generally turns off recurring candidates’ ability to accept donations one month after they have lost campaigns. Candidates can, however, make a special request to keep accounts open for the purpose of retiring campaign debt.

If WinRed is not cutting off donations, Rosen said, “It is a recipe for chargebacks.”

Lake herself has been critical of the deceptive practices that campaigns use to snare recurring donations. She blasted fellow Republican Karrin Taylor Robson during the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial primary for a campaign finance report that detailed hundreds of refunds.

“Unlike Robson, we don’t have to fool donors into giving money to our campaign, so we do not have to issue hundreds of refunds,” Lake said at the time.

Campaign donations to federal employees after their elections have ended raise questions about compliance with the Hatch Act, which generally bars executive branch employees from soliciting or receiving donations.

The U.S. Agency for Global Media has told its employees that collecting campaign contributions is forbidden under the Hatch Act.

There is, however, an exception for candidates like Lake who still have campaign debt. Their old campaign organizations can continue to collect money, as long as the candidate plays no role in soliciting donations, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which polices violations of the Hatch Act.

Cynthia Brown, chief ethics counsel at the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that recurring donations would not necessarily trigger Hatch Act concerns.

“The Hatch Act does not govern the mode of how donations are submitted, only the employee’s role in getting those donations,” she said in a statement. “Automated donations that are submitted without the employee’s knowledge do not present an obvious problem under the Hatch Act, but to the extent the employee is encouraging donations via any mode during their government employment, that would be a problem.”