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Democrats have relied on one company’s tools to power its campaigns. They’re now facing a possible collapse. (www.politico.com)

submitted 1 year ago by deconstruct@lemm.ee to c/politics@lemmy.world

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NGP VAN provides tools used by Democrats, from the White House to local school boards, to raise money and mobilize voters. But with new management in recent years, it has been stripping its operations to the bare bones.

The potential decline of these tools — which have given Democrats a significant technology edge over Republicans over the past few cycles — would be so threatening to operations that a handful of top Democratic digital firms recently called a roughly hourlong Zoom meeting with leadership of the company to seek answers. Among their demands: reassurance that NGP VAN wouldn’t dismantle one of its top products, an online organizing and fundraising tool called ActionKit. Without it, Democrats worried about their prospects during the 2024 cycle and beyond.

“I’m hoping that I’m wrong, that we’re all wrong, that everyone’s fine,” said a former NGP VAN employee, granted anonymity to speak candidly about their former employer. “But this could mean something really bad for 2024.”

The alarm relayed on the call reflected a larger concern: that the Democratic Party has grown too dependent on a small handful of companies to carry the bulk of its campaign operations.

Democrats up and down the ballot have long relied on NGP VAN to run their campaigns. Now, consultants and former employees are concerned that repeated layoffs will lead to problems with the party’s most vaunted tech tools. Some consultants are on the precipice of turning their back on NGP VAN altogether, according to six NGP VAN clients who spoke with POLITICO.

But the company’s monopoly-like grip on Democratic campaigns means there’s no clear alternative that can immediately replace it.

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[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

A big component of the VAN is having access to the names and addresses of likely democratic voters, which I understand this company to basically be selling access to and building tools around.

So it's not so much the data tools so much as the access.

That all being said, 20-16 till now, and the constant physical irritant that was the Trump years have left people pretty damn jaded. I'm a bit dubious about the value of these lists, but without them, a campaign is starting from scratch.

It's a tough thing, but if you need to reach 100k voters to win an election, you need both data and people.

this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023

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