2020 Democratic presidential candidates websites
Written by Erick Olivares
Frontrunners for the 2020 democratic presidential candidates’ websites have modern web technologies to try to propel them to the general election. Most websites are using modern-day CMS technologies such as WordPress and Contentful. There are two apparent goals for a candidate’s website.
- Have donors contribute to campaign donations
- Capture email for the mailing list
Web Platforms
More than half the websites are using WordPress as their content management system. However, javascript sites include Backbone.js, Gatsby.js, and React. Elizabeth Warren is the only candidate with Contentful CMS.
Candidates also have ecommerce stores that are either on Shopify or BigCommerce. Both platforms are mainstream channels to sell online products. These stores have swag and promotional products for the candidate.
Content Management Systems market share in 2019
Donations
Candidate websites have shown an aggressive donation marketing strategy. This includes large full-screen pop-ups that show preset donations values ($5, $10, $20, $50, etc.) or custom values users can input. These are submitting to a 3rd party platform that passes the value to ActBlue.
ActBlue is a nonprofit organization that enables democratic candidates and groups to raise money. ActBlue is being used by every candidate on this list except for billionaire, Mike Bloomberg. The organization ensures candidates are equipped with donation pages that follow the law, is secure, mobile-friendly and streamlined user experience.
Email Signups
Emails are collected on forms. Usually, there are three fields that a user needs to fill out to join the mailing list.
- Full Name (required)
- Email (required)
- Phone (usually optional)
Zip Code is an interesting field as it’s not common on other websites but is commonly used on candidate websites to segment and targeting audiences.
Joe Biden
Website Platform: WordPress
Donation Platform: ActBlue
Languages: English / Spanish
Ecommerce Store: store.joebiden.com Bigcommerce
Bernie Sanders
Website Platform: React
Donation Platform: ActBlue
Languages: English / Spanish
Ecommerce Store: store.berniesanders.com Shopify
Elizabeth Warren
Website Platform: Contentful
Donation Platform: ActBlue
Languages: English / Spanish
Ecommerce Store: shop.elizabethwarren.com Shopify
Pete Buttigieg
Website Platform: Backbone.js
Donation Platform: ActBlue
Languages: English / Spanish
Ecommerce Store: store.peteforamerica.com Shopify
Andrew Yang
Website Platform: WordPress
Donation Platform: ActBlue
Languages: English
Ecommerce Store: shop.yang2020.com Shopify
Amy Klobuchar
Website Platform: WordPress
Donation Platform: ActBlue
Languages: English / Spanish
Ecommerce Store: store.amyklobuchar.com Bigcommerce
Cory Booker
Website Platform: WordPress
Donation Platform: ActBlue
Languages: English / Spanish
Ecommerce Store: shop.corybooker.com Bigcommerce
Mike Bloomberg
Website Platform: Gatsby.js
Donation Platform: None
Languages: English / Spanish
Ecommerce Store: shop.mikebloomberg.com Bigcommerce
Tulsi Gabbard
Website Platform: Drupal
Donation Platform: ActBlue
Languages: English / Spanish
Ecommerce Store: shop.tulsi2020.com Backbone.js
Tom Steyer
Website Platform: WordPress
Donation Platform: ActBlue
Languages: English / Spanish
Ecommerce Store: shop.tomsteyer.com Shopify
Julian Castro
Website Platform: WordPress
Donation Platform: ActBlue
Languages: English / Spanish
Ecommerce Store: store.julianforthefuture.com Bigcommerce
Candidates have options to translate their websites into Spanish to achieve these goals with another demographic. Note, only Spanish is the other option for English. No other language translations were found.
