Canvassing Giant Progressive Turnout Project Buys Into New Tech
The largest voter contact group in the country is ditching the canvassing software that Democratic campaigns and organizations have relied on for years.
Progressive Turnout Project, a Chicago-based political action committee that supports liberal candidates, is partnering with the canvassing tech startup TouchStone ahead of the 2026 midterms, steering away from NGP VAN’s canvassing app MiniVan, which has long been considered the industry standard in the world of Democratic voter contact.
The move comes amid a larger push by some progressive groups to find an alternative to NGP VAN and its suite of programs. While the company remains the single largest player in the Democratic voter contact space, lingering concerns over technical capabilities and NGP VAN’s private-equity ownership have spurred groups – including the Democratic National Committee – to solicit proposals for new voter data and organizing tools.
Alex Morgan, the president of PTP, said that his group would continue to use several tools from NGP VAN’s parent company Bonterra, including ActionKit, NGP and Mobilize, but would replace MiniVan – which PTP has used since its launch a decade ago – with TouchStone as its “all-in-one door knocking solution.”
“[W]e definitely think the technology needs to evolve to reach more voters and integrate stronger quality controls, which we see happening with TouchStone,” Morgan said in an email to Campaigns & Elections.
As part of the partnership with TouchStone, PTP will take a 50 percent stake in software, according to TouchStone’s co-founder Nathan Bowman. PTP will run a door-knocking pilot in Virginia this fall, as well as other volunteer programs in California, Georgia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with the goal of fine tuning the tool before the 2026 midterm cycle kicks off.
“When we started this thing, we really worked to build it with PTP in mind. The tool is really perfect for them,” Bowman told C&E. “They’re going to use us as their principal voter contact system and they’re really going to develop it and help us acquire partners, given their pretty large name recognition and credibility in the field.”
Searching for New Tech
PTP isn’t alone in its search for new software. The DNC unveiled a request for proposals – or RFP – in April seeking “a broad range of potential tools, from systems that bring innovation to managing voter and volunteer data to platforms that facilitate ongoing voter outreach and volunteer engagement.”
One of the more prominent efforts is being run by the Movement Cooperative, a nonprofit that provides tech and data support to progressive organizations. That group rolled out its own RFP process earlier this year for a “next generation” voter database that could come into use as soon as the first half of 2026.
Some Democrats and progressives have also begun exploring potential alternatives to ActBlue, the Democratic online fundraising clearinghouse that is currently under investigation by the Trump administration.
While Democrats have cast the probe as a politically motivated effort by President Donald Trump to hobble his opponents’ fundraising abilities, some Democrats and progressives argue that it’s unwise to rely on a singular platform.
