The 2020 presidential campaign for Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire media mogul and former New York City mayor, lasted barely more than 3 months and cost a reported $1 billion—mostly coming out of his own pocket. It seems possible that his campaign’s texting efforts may cost him some additional money as two individuals have filed a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawsuit, claiming his campaign contacted them without proper consent, using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS). Bloomberg’s campaign attempted to have the case transferred to federal court but the plaintiffs filed a motion arguing that it should remain in state court. The case remains ongoing.
Due to the large amount of telephonic outreach that they conduct and their occasionally lax compliance procedures, political campaigns are frequent targets for TCPA lawsuits. Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign had been sued for TCPA violations. As have both of President Trump’s campaigns. Even smaller scale campaigns such as a mayoral campaign in Chicago and a congressional campaign in Georgia have generated TCPA suits. Many political campaigns operate under the mistaken assumption that they are exempt from TCPA regulations when the reality of TCPA compliance for political campaigns is much more complicated. It seems inevitable that, as long as the TCPA remains a significant vehicle for consumer litigation, political campaigns will find themselves as defendants in TCPA cases.