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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 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/politics

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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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[–] [email protected] -4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

When you're out in the field and your FOSS product suddenly has a glitch, who runs tech support for you?

FOSS is great for some things but this isn't necessarily one of them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You realise there's a whole industry built around consulting services and support for FOSS software like Linux?

[–] ShunkW 7 points 9 months ago

Alternatively, fork the software and hire your own in-house staff to support the fork. So long as that's allowed in license.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Who runs tech support? The people you hired to run tech support.