In December 2023, a woman living in a small community near Austin, Texas, made a $78.08 contribution through WinRed. A few weeks later, she made another. Then came four more contributions in January 2024. Those were the first six entries under her name in Federal Election Commission records stretching back decades. Since then, her name has appeared 126,739 times – including 1,011 times in reports filed by U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri. And she is one of 13 donors with numerous contributions flagged in three letters the FEC sent this year to Schmitt’s campaign committee asking about donations that appear to exceed federal limits and other issues with his reports.
None of the 13 donors flagged in the FEC letters live in Missouri, and none gave to Schmitt when he sought election to his first term in the Senate in 2022. He has raised $4.3 million since the start of 2025 for the 2028 election. Those 13 donors are, collectively, listed in Schmitt’s FEC reports almost 5,700 times, donating $85,672 after accounting for negative amounts entered for each donor in subsequent and amended reports. The totals for each donor range from just over the donation limit of $3,500 to more than $10,500.
The Independent unsuccessfully attempted to contact the donors to understand why their names had been listed so many times. The records offer a window into the increasingly automated world of online political fundraising, where a small number of donors can generate thousands of transactions and campaigns must keep track of whether those contributions exceed federal limits. Online fundraising platforms can process recurring contributions automatically, and a single donation can generate multiple entries in federal records as money moves through a platform, political committee and candidate campaign. That can leave regulators sorting out whether unusual patterns reflect legitimate giving, reporting errors or contributions a donor may not have intended to continue.
The issue is familiar in Missouri. Lawmakers this year tightened state campaign finance rules after The Independent reported that a 92-year-old Nebraska veteran had become an unwitting recurring donor to former state Sen. Bill Eigel’s campaign for St. Charles County executive. State and local candidates now must obtain clear consent for recurring contributions, send a receipt after every donation and stop them when asked or after the election. No such restrictions exist at the federal level.
Schmitt’s campaign did not respond to a request for comments on the FEC letters. The first FEC letter raising concerns about Schmitt’s fundraising listed 10 contributors with at least 20 donations during 2025. The second, sent after Schmitt’s campaign filed its report for the first quarter of the year, included inquiries about seven donors, six of whom were also listed in the first letter. The third letter, sent after the report for the second quarter of the year, listed 10 donors, including eight listed in one or more of the previous letters.
The FEC letters do not establish that Schmitt’s campaign or any donor violated federal law. They are requests from commission staff seeking corrections or explanations for apparent problems in campaign finance reports. “It does not mean there’s been a violation of the law,” Bradley Smith, a former chairman of the FEC, told The Independent. “It does not mean there’s going to be a fine on the campaign. It’s simply saying you’ve got reporting problems, and we’d like to either have this corrected or explained.” The letters raise other issues as well, including incomplete information about some donors, donors who made single or a handful of donations that exceed the limits and information about the source of don
