Political campaigns are exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry, so registering at donotcall.gov won’t reduce the calls or texts you receive. To stop political calls and texts, you have to opt out directly with each caller, block their numbers, and escalate to the FCC or a TCPA lawsuit if they keep contacting you. The steps below work, but they take more effort than blocking a typical spam caller because campaigns rotate numbers and use texting platforms designed to sidestep the autodialer rules.
Stopping the Calls
Tell the caller to stop. Under FCC rules, you can revoke consent at any time and in any reasonable manner, and on a voice call, saying “take me off your list” or “don’t call me again” counts. Callers cannot force you to use one specific opt-out method.1Federal Communications Commission. Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991
Then block the number on your phone. Both iOS and Android have built-in blocking, and carriers offer their own tools. Blocking won’t stop a campaign that cycles through fresh numbers each week, but it kills repeat calls from numbers you’ve already heard from. Third-party call-blocking apps help against commercial spam but are less reliable against political callers using new numbers each cycle.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act gives you stronger protection on your cell phone than on a landline. Political robocalls, autodialed calls, and prerecorded voice messages to mobile numbers require your prior express consent. To residential landlines, political robocalls are allowed without consent, capped at three calls within any consecutive 30-day period to the same number.2Federal Communications Commission. Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts A handful of states run their own Do Not Call registries, but most also exempt political calls, so a state list is not a reliable defense.
Stopping the Texts
Reply with “STOP.” That single word is your most reliable tool. The FCC recognizes several opt-out keywords as reasonable revocations of consent: “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel,” and “unsubscribe.” Any of them, sent as a reply, counts as a definitive revocation, and the sender cannot contact you again afterward.1Federal Communications Commission. Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991
There’s a wrinkle worth knowing. Most political texts today are not autodialed. Campaigns use peer-to-peer texting platforms where a real person hits “send” on each individual message, and the FCC ruled in 2020 that a platform requiring a person to manually dial each recipient and send each message one at a time is not an autodialer under the TCPA.3Federal Communications Commission. Declaratory Ruling – Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 P2P Alliance Petition for Clarification So the texts you get were probably legal to send even without your consent. Replying “STOP” still works in practice: reputable campaigns honor opt-outs regardless of whether the law compels them to, because ignoring them creates regulatory risk. If a campaign keeps texting after you’ve replied “STOP,” you have grounds to escalate.
Forward unwanted texts to 7726 (which spells “SPAM” on your keypad). Your carrier will reply asking for the sender’s number, and the report helps the carrier identify and block similar messages.4Federal Trade Commission. How to Recognize and Report Spam Text Messages Block the sender on your phone after reporting.
Cutting Off Where They Got Your Number
Two pipelines feed campaigns your phone number: voter registration files and commercial data brokers.
Most states include phone numbers in voter registration records available to political parties and campaigns. About 18 states require a phone number on the registration form, while roughly 28 states make it optional.5National Conference of State Legislatures. Access To and Use Of Voter Registration Lists If your state makes it optional, leave the field blank when you register or update your registration. Your registration will still be valid.
Data brokers compile phone numbers from public records, purchase histories, app data, and online activity, then sell packaged lists to campaigns. You can submit opt-out or deletion requests through a “Do Not Sell” or “Privacy Request” page on each broker’s site. It’s tedious because there are dozens of them, but each one you remove trims the lists your number appears on.
AI-Generated Political Calls
In February 2024, the FCC ruled unanimously that AI-generated voices, including voice cloning, qualify as “artificial or prerecorded voice” under the TCPA. Any political call using AI to simulate a human voice requires your prior express consent, the same as a traditional robocall.6Federal Communications Commission. Implications of Artificial Intelligence Technologies on Protecting Consumers from Unwanted Robocalls and Robotexts The ruling followed a voice-cloned call impersonating a presidential candidate during the 2024 New Hampshire primary, urging voters to stay home. If a political call sounds like a real person but feels off and you never consented to receive it, the caller is violating federal law. Report it to the FCC.
Filing an FCC Complaint
When a campaign keeps calling or texting after you’ve opted out, file a complaint at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov. The FCC may forward it to the offending organization, which then has 30 days to respond in writing to both you and the FCC.7Federal Communications Commission. Filing an Informal Complaint
Before filing, gather the details: dates and times of each call or text, the originating numbers, the name of the organization or campaign if identified, and the content of any messages. Screenshots of texts are especially useful. Note the date you sent your opt-out reply. Your state attorney general’s office may also accept complaints about unwanted political communications, particularly if state telemarketing laws apply. The Federal Election Commission is the wrong venue for this problem; the FEC handles campaign finance, not unwanted calls.8Federal Election Commission. How to File a Complaint With the FEC
Suing Under the TCPA
The TCPA gives you a private right to sue. You can bring the case in state court and recover either your actual financial losses or $500 per violation, whichever is greater. If the court finds the caller violated the law willfully or knowingly, the judge can triple that to $1,500 per violation.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 227 – Restrictions on Use of Telephone Equipment
The math adds up. Ten unwanted robotexts to your cell phone after you revoked consent could mean $5,000 in statutory damages, or $15,000 if the court finds the violations intentional. Small claims court is the practical venue for most individuals. Filing fees vary by jurisdiction but typically run between $10 and $300.
For autodialer and robocall violations to a cell phone, a single violation is enough to sue. For Do Not Call registry violations specifically (less relevant here, since political calls are exempt), you need more than one call within a 12-month period from the same entity.10Federal Communications Commission. Telephone Consumer Protection Act (47 U.S.C. 227) Summary The federal statute of limitations for TCPA claims is four years from the date of the violation.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1658 – Time Limitations on the Commencement of Civil Actions
Keep records of everything: screenshots of texts and your “STOP” replies, call logs with dates and times, voicemails, and any caller ID information. That documentation is what turns an annoyance into a viable claim.