Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-05)

Representative Mark Takano (D-CA-41)

Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-02)

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)

Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-05)

Rep. McMorris Rodgers is known for persuading congressional offices to adopt new technology and communications tools, especially in the advancement of social media. She pioneered the Digital Challenge, now in its eight year, to push offices to try new methods for engaging constituents. Through the office's use of Trello, Twitter Q+A, MailChimp, internal communication software, and chalkboard/whiteboard walls, her office is considered a model for innovation. As McMorris Rodgers puts it succinctly, "We can't sound like we're promoting 19th Century ideas with 20th Century technology to an audience in the 21st Century."

Representative Mark Takano (D-CA-41)

Representative Mark Takano (D-CA-41) relishes using his office as a test lab for new innovative tools as a means of persuading his colleagues in Congress to adopt successful ones. For example, the office uses Eventbrite to invite constituents to town hall meetings allowing them to ask questions in advance and the office to follow up afterward. They also share charts and one-minute speeches on Tumblr and post longer pieces on Medium to explain policy issues. The Takano office is one of few on Capitol Hill to allow constituents to rate them on Yelp. The Washington and California offices find a digital messaging platform greatly improves their internal communications and allows them to assist Representative Takano in serving his district.

Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-02)

In his first year in office, Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-02) began conducting semi-annual constituent satisfaction surveys, one of the first Members of Congress to solicit unbiased feedback on a regular basis from constituents about their interactions with the office. The staff uses the data gathered to identify problems in their services or processes that need to be addressed. They even leave a space for open comments to encourage constituents to share opinions on any issue. Positive reactions from other offices have motivated other Members of Congress to adopt the practice.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)

Senator Ron Wyden's (D-OR) and his staff regularly work with Senate institutional offices to improve cybersecurity. His website was the first to be encrypted in order to maintain confidentiality between the Senator's office and his constituents; the rest of the Senate and many of the House offices followed suit. He pioneered the use of video-conferencing in the Senate so that his Washington and Oregon offices could work more collaboratively. Senator Wyden uses Reddit for Q&A sessions with constituents; conducts Facebook Live events and YouTube town hall meetings; and posts daily "Ron Report" videos on Twitter. His staff regularly answers questions from Democrat and Republican offices on how they can improve cybersecurity.