Ruck.us was a political website builder designed for American candidates and organizations seeking state and local-level political office. It was designed for ease of use.

History

Ruck.us was founded by Nathan Daschle, former executive director of the

Democratic Governors Association The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1983, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Democratic Party. The mission of the organization is to provide party ...

and son of former Senator

Tom Daschle Thomas Andrew Daschle ( ; born December 9, 1947) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as a United States senator from South Dakota from 1987 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he became U.S. Senate Minority Leader in 1995 an ...

, and Raymond Glendening, former

Political Director and son of former Maryland Governor

Parris Glendening Parris Nelson Glendening (born June 11, 1942) is an American politician and academic who served as the 59th Governor of Maryland from January 18, 1995, to January 15, 2003. Previously, he was the County Executive of Prince George's County, Mary ...

, in 2011. It began as a second generation social network for politics to break up the two-party system. In late 2013, Daschle "realized that while technology has revolutionized the more well-funded campaigns, basic tools were still out of reach for the over 1 million candidates at the state and local level" and pivoted into the campaign technology business. He was joined by

Jonathan Zucker Jonathan Zucker (born December 23, 1971) is a political technology entrepreneur and campaign finance attorney best known as the founder of Democracy Engine, the first COO and second CEO of ActBlue and the founder of It Starts Today. History Zucker ...

, the founder of the political fundraising company Democracy Engine and former executive director of ActBlue, as co-founder, CTO and Head of Product, and angel investor. Consultant Leo Wang joined as co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer. Ruck.us' Board of Advisors included presidential strategist

Mark McKinnon Mark David McKinnon (born May 5, 1955) is an American political advisor, reform advocate, media columnist, and television producer. He was the chief media advisor to five successful presidential primary and general election campaigns, and is a co ...

, former Bloomberg for Mayor campaign manager Bradley Tusk, well-known pundit and strategist

Joe Trippi Joseph Paul Trippi (born June 10, 1956) is an American political strategist who has worked on several gubernatorial, United States Senate, and Congressional campaigns, including Jerry Brown for Governor of California and Doug Jones for U.S. Sen ...

, former Mayor of Washington, D.C.

Adrian Fenty Adrian Malik Fenty (born December 6, 1970) is an American politician who served as the sixth mayor of the District of Columbia. He served one term, from 2007 to 2011, losing his bid for reelection at the primary level to Democrat Vincent C. Gray ...

, and several others.

Feature Set

Ruck.us aimed to offer the tools to create a “professional and highly functional campaign website". Its feature set included: * Online donation processing through Democracy Engine *

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

integration * Photo and video hosting * Space for a candidate or organization biography * "Issues statement" panels for staking positions on specific topics * Event management * Space for press clips In February 2015, Ruck.us unveiled “Ruck.us Premium,” an expanded feature set that offers users more tools, like custom domain names and multiple-administrator support, for a monthly fee.

Recognition

In recognition of the platform's potential, Nathan Daschle was named one of Campaigns & Elections Magazine's Top 50 Political Influencers for 2014 for his work on Ruck.us and his commitment to “better meet the digital demands of campaigns lower down the ballot.”

Status

In the 2014 election cycle, Ruck.us partnered with the Democratic Parties of Michigan, Maryland and Idaho, bringing hundreds of candidates and organizations online in those states and securing an additional $500,000 in funding and investment. It has since formed partnerships with the Democratic Parties of Georgia, Louisiana, and the Association of State Democratic Chairs.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Ruck.us - December 31, 2019 archive
2011 establishments in the United States Internet properties established in 2011 American political websites