--- title: Republican Party Sends Out Pro-Uber Email description: The Republican National Committee is prowling for emails by shilling for car-hailing service Uber. canonical: https://time.com/3087694/the-gop-loves-uber/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-06T22:45:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:40:30.828Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republican Party Sends Out Pro-Uber Email og:description: The Republican National Committee is prowling for emails by shilling for car-hailing service Uber. og:url: https://time.com/3087694/the-gop-loves-uber/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt533da35c98e597da/69869ea9d0b6f282c630599b/gop-uber.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: The Hamptons Lure Uber Top Drivers Amid NYC Slow Summer Weekends og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republican Party Sends Out Pro-Uber Email twitter:description: The Republican National Committee is prowling for emails by shilling for car-hailing service Uber. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt533da35c98e597da/69869ea9d0b6f282c630599b/gop-uber.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The GOP Loves Uber > Sponsored content. 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At a TIME panel discussion held Wednesday, Sept. 19, at the Newseum in Washington, DC, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick spoke to TIME Executive Editor Michael Duffy about Uber's origins and what explosive Internet growth means for a real world enterprise_ by [Zeke J Miller/Chicago](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller/Chicago Aug 6, 2014 10:45 PM UTC  Th Uber Technologies Inc. car service application (app) is demonstrated for a photograph on an Apple Inc. iPhone in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014. Th Uber Technologies Inc. car service application (app) is demonstrated for a photograph on an Apple Inc. iPhone in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Zeke J Miller/Chicago](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller/Chicago Aug 6, 2014 10:45 PM UTC The Republican National Committee is prowling for emails by shilling for car-hailing service Uber. “Our cities also deserve innovative, efficient and safe transportation choices without excessive and intrusive bureaucratic red tape,” the RNC wrote in an email to supporters Wednesday. “That’s why our cities need innovative solutions like the Uber car service.” The message wasn’t designed as an advertisement for the Uber, but rather a list-building and messaging effort by the party as it seeks to broaden its appeal to millennials and libertarians before this fall’s midterm elections. As top party officials gather in Chicago, where the company is embroiled in a fight with the city council and the state legislature, the GOP is highlighting the startup as an example of a company hamstrung by overregulation. Uber has waged public campaigns against taxi commissions and local governments across the country, which in many cases tried to block the company’s expansion at the behest of existing taxi companies. > [](https://twitter.com/GOP/status/497049515812470784) The GOP’s petition is designed to collect email addresses of potential supporters, who can be bombarded with pitches to donate and support Republican candidates.  GOP.com “We don’t need the intrusive government implementing any more strangling regulations, limiting consumer choices or interfering in the free market,” the RNC email continues. “But this isn’t about one company or concept. This is about protecting the core principles that make our country so great: our free market principles, our entrepreneurial spirit and our economic freedom. Show your support for free market companies like Uber by signing the petition today.” ## Transcript [ SOUND ] So I'm Tom Weber, Assistant Managing Editor of Time Magazine. So I'd like to introduce Travis Kalanick, the Co- Founder and CEO of Uber, which is a, a mobile startup that you probably know is getting a lot of attention as the car service of the future really. And I'd also like to introduce Michael Duffy. And he oversees the magazine's coverage of politics and national affairs. So, Michael and Travis. Than you. [ NOISE ] Travis, I wanna just start talking about uber right at the top here. Tell us just a little bit just how you thought. The idea of the company up. Yeah I mean it's, it's pretty straightforward. So my co- founder and I you know, both lived in San Francisco. And anybody who's been to San Francisco knows that it's very difficult to get a ride. And so we just wanted to push a button and get a ride. And we want it to, you know, we want it to be a classy ride. So, instead of pushing a button and taxi rolls up, you push a button and a town car rolls up. Talk to us a little. How many cities are you now in Travis? We're in 17. And is there a kind of pattern that's developed as you've gone into each one? The first pattern is that this thing spreads word of mouth, right. What's very interesting is that Like we see with a twitter or a Facebook where there's huge explosive growth and it seems to defy rational thought of how quickly these things grow. Like how much explosive growth [ LAUGH ] Like well for us, we're growing 26 % month over month, which means we're 16 times bigger today than we were six months ago, as an example. And it's not slowing down. And so, so what's interesting is when that kind of viral, internet explosive growth, goes into the real world. Right so, when it, you know you look at a city that might go wow, we want a new transportation system. We want an alternate way for folks to get around. That can take two decades to happen. And now it's taking months. Uh- huh. What cities would you like to go in next? Miami and Vegas. Cuz? Because they need us. Overseas, is Uber possible, Uber there? We are in London and Paris right now. We are about to be in a whole bunch more cities; probably 4 more cities, 3 or 4 more cities before the end of the year in Europe. Can you, is it different? Is there anything significantly, you know? We look at the markets city by city, not country by country. Country. Paris is more like San Francisco than New York is like San, than New York is like Paris. When was the last time you took, a real taxi? The last time I took a real taxi was actually in DC. It was crazy. It just, sometimes, you gotta do it. And, I had my bag, I was going to city council, because we were talking to them about this law that they were trying to pass. And, I put my bag in the back of, in the trunk and I forgot my bag in the trunk. [ LAUGH ] When my, when my team called to find out about like, how do we get the bag back [ LAUGH ], the number, the phone number that you need to call to get your bag, any lost, any lost item goes to the taxi commissioner's office. So, his assistant, answered the phone for the lost and found number. That just tells you, needless to say I didn't get my stuff back. [ LAUGH ] We're gonna stop there. Travis Mark, thank you very much. Yeah. 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