Catalist
| Formation | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Harold M. Ickes and Laura Quinn |
| Founded at | United States |
| Type | For-profit corporation |
| Location | |
| Methods | Microtargeting |
| Website | catalist |
Catalist is a for-profit corporation based in Washington, D.C., that operates a voter database and works for progressive causes.[1][2]
History
Catalist was founded as Data Warehouse, LLC.[3]
The founding team of Catalist included Harold M. Ickes, Laura Quinn, and Vijay Ravindran.[4]
During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, Catalist served as the principal repository of Democratic data, working with over 90 liberal groups including the Service Employees International Union, the Democratic National Committee, and the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign.[1]
Catalist has engaged in data mining on behalf of clients such as Rock the Vote and EMILY's List.[5] Catalist receives funding from the Democracy Alliance.[6]
In 2015, Catalist received $725,000 from the National Education Association, a major teachers union.[7]
In August 2016, Catalist analyzed records from 10 battleground states through June and found a major influx of new voters, majority-white, were responsible for the record-breaking turnout in the Republican primaries.[8][9]
The company as of 2018 claims that it has data on 240 million unique individuals in the United States, to be used by "progressive" organizations. Laura Quinn remained chief executive officer.[10]
After the 2020 election, Catalist published an analysis of turnout and votes among various demographic groups that contributed to the Biden / Harris ticket's victory.[11]
In June 2021, 30 workers for Catalist announced that a super majority of workers had signed union authorization cards to be represented by the Communication Workers of America through CODE-CWA, and that Catalist had voluntarily recognized the workers' union.[2] They did not unionize to improve working conditions, but because workers felt that since the company does work for the labor movement, its employees should be unionized.[2]
See also
- Blue State Digital
- Civis Analytics
- Data dredging
- Dan Wagner (data scientist)
- The Groundwork
- Harper Reed
- Left-wing politics
- Michael Slaby
- ORCA (computer system)
- Project Houdini
- Project Narwhal
- Predictive analytics
References
- ^ a b Ambinder, Marc (October 5, 2009). "Exclusive: How Democrats Won The Data War In 2008". The Atlantic. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ^ a b c Rodrigo, Chris (2021-06-16). "Workers at progressive data firm Catalist unionize". The Hill. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
Workers at Catalist, a data firm that works with progressive causes, have formed a union that was voluntarily recognized by management Wednesday. ... Catalist provides data infrastructure like voter files and models for a wide swath of left-leaning organizations and labor unions including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the AFL-CIO. ... Catalist workers say they pursued unionization not because of any specific perceived mistreatment, but because of a broader belief in the benefits of organizing. ... Davinia Camellia, an account executive at the firm, told The Hill that the organizing workers' "overall philosophy" was that if they were going to be doing work with the labor movement then they should be represented by a union as well.
- ^ "Company Overview of Catalist LLC". Bloomberg. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
- ^ "They Have Your Number". Washingtonian. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
- ^ Issenberg, Sasha (January 30, 2012). "For Sale: Detailed Voter Profiles". Slate. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ^ Confessore, Nicholas (November 14, 2013). "Groups Mobilize to Aid Democrats in '14 Data Arms Race". New York Times. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- ^ Berman, Richard (2016-08-15). "If your child's school is failing, thank a union | Fox News". Fox News. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
- ^ "Donald Trump's Great White Hope Is Fading Fast". 23 August 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
- ^ Tau, ron (2016-08-23). "Voter Influx Appears Missing for Trump". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
- ^ "About Catalist". Catalist.us. Archived from the original on October 28, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
- ^ "Analysis | Trump's improvement with non-White voters in 2020 was important — but not as important as the turnout surge". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-03-16.