- never signed up for anything like this,
- never donated to or signed up for emails from the DNC, et al.,
- political texts like this come all the time, and
- I hesitate to reply “stop” because I don’t want them to know this is a live number (is my instinct here outdated/inapplicable?)
Yeah, no.
That’s covered by political activity in the same laws. The list of exemptions here is pretty broad and goes well beyond actual officially registered political parties.
Here’s the list for the Australian Privacy Laws: https://www.alrc.gov.au/publication/for-your-information-australian-privacy-law-and-practice-alrc-report-108/41-political-exemption/exemption-for-registered-political-parties-political-acts-and-practices/
And here’s the restrictions around spam: https://www.acma.gov.au/political-calls-emails-and-text-messages
Interesting to note, though another user pointed out that this does not work the same way in the United States (political organizations still have to provide a means to opt out).