In an era where online attention is currency, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is recruiting online creators to spread the campaign’s message on their social media platforms.
The Harris-Walz campaign held a Thursday mixer for social media influencers at Cred Cafe in Detroit. Attendees said posts on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube are the primary news source for a younger that stays politically engaged through online conversations. The campaign is tapping the expertise of young voters who are fluent in intertwining political advocacy and culture.
“There’s a lot of noise right now, a lot of chaos, but we in this room have the opportunity to break through and bridge that gap between what’s cool and consciousness,” said U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Florida. Frost, 27, is the youngest member of Congress and the first elected from Generation Z.
It’s a symbiotic relationship. For campaigns, influencers are a direct conduit to large audiences of young voters. For content creators, associating with Harris can give them exclusive access, legitimizing and amplifying their profiles. Frost said the campaign puts authenticity at the forefront, they’re not prescribing how people should post.
“Please use your platform in the way you see fit,” Frost said. “It’s going to look different for everybody. There’s creators here who want to use humor and comedy to activate people. There’s creators who give people straight-up information. Something different will activate different people. Everybody learns differently.”
The blending of politics and entertainment can also come with risks for both sides. There’s a fine line between being very online, versed in online language and terminally online, alienating people who miss a joke or reference. And creators can risk alienating their own audiences by clarifying their political positions.
Taylor Hale, 29, is a Detroit native who launched into the national spotlight after winning the reality television show “Big Brother.” Hale has 213,000 followers on Instagram and 62,000 followers on TikTok.
“A lot of reality TV personalities don’t want to talk about politics, but the people that are following you are entertained by you, so why not inspire them to do something more with their lives?” Hale said.
Her “links in bio” directs fans to Spotify playlists and an LGBTQ fundraiser for the ACLU’s “Drag Defense Fund.” On TikTok, Hale poses with a giant SpongeBob Squarepants at the Kids Choice awards and dances with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“Politics shouldn’t be something we’re talking about to put someone in power, it’s something that we encounter in so many different ways in life. When I’m driving on the road and the street light doesn’t work, that’s political. I want to take away the stigma that politics are bad.”
Hale said she had a typical Black middle-class experience. She grew up in Detroit with Democratic union member parents who worked as a public school teacher and a pipefitter. Politics was a key part of her upbringing.
“My Detroit was run by Kwame Kilpatrick, my Detroit was a soap opera on the news every day,” Hale said. “Maybe that’s what activated me when I was younger.”
Hale’s Instagram includes commentary on a ceasefire in Palestine between videos showing her makeup routine and a travel blog sponsored by Chase Bank. She said her advocacy for a ceasefire has made her miss out on money-making opportunities.
“I’ve had brands walk away from working with me because I’ve been pro-Palestine on social media,” Hale said. “I grew up in Detroit, half the people I know are Arab, Chaldean, have some sort of personal tie to Palestine. I would be abandoning my values, my identity if I were to accept money from organizations that wanted me to turn that off.”
The campaign invited dozens of content creators to Thursday’s event, including Detroit Finds 313, Anna Rob, Randi Rossario, Gmac Cash, Comedian T. Barb, Mia Ray, Detroit Dar and Amber Lewis, among others.
Lewis visited the White House earlier this month for a first-of-its-kind “creator economy” conference and met with Harris in May during a Detroit visit. But few of the other accounts had much to say about politics before Thursday.
“I haven’t used my platform to talk about politics until this election,” said Anna Rob, who started her own social media marketing agency and vlogs about life in the city. “I hadn’t realized the power that it has. Being my authentic self, people already have an idea of my views and what I am, so (now I’m) being clear on my stances on reproductive freedom or climate change.”
Speakers emphasized the growing influence young voters have on elections. A state-by-state analysis of voting data by Tufts University found turnout among 18-29-year-olds increased by 11 percentage points in the 2020 election. Youth turnout in Michigan was estimated at 54%.
Polls of young voters show support for Harris increased since she took over the Democratic ticket last month. Biden had struggled in polls with young voters, particularly voters of color, who disagreed with his backing of Israel’s war in Gaza and expressed concern about his age.
Anaria Rambus, 25, said she’s much more excited to support Harris and said people she knows aren’t thinking about sitting out the election. Preventing Trump from returning to office is too important, she said. Rambus also said she’s seen a shift in focus since Harris took over the campaign.
“We’re talking about real things now,” Rambus said. “We’re not talking about someone’s character or how old they are. We’re talking about reproductive freedom, immigration rights, and really just maintaining our rights. That’s what’s on the line.”
Frost visited Michigan during a national campaign swing to college campuses. Other stops were planned in Flint, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids. A day earlier, four students were arrested on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor during a pro-Palestine demonstration.
Frost acknowledged that young people on college campuses are driving demands for a ceasefire and putting pressure on Harris to take a stronger stance against supporting Israel’s war in Palestine.
“We have to have the conversations and we need to bring people in and not push people away,” Frost said. “Most Americans, most young people, have a very similar opinion on this. Most people want a ceasefire. They want to see this massacre of innocent Palestinians stop in Gaza. They want Palestinian self-determination, for Israelis to be safe, for Palestinians to be safe and this killing to stop. Kamala has that same opinion.”
Campaign social media accounts were rebranded after Biden dropped out in July. A noticeable change in communication strategy contributed to an immediate surge in attention. Kamala HQ added more than 906,000 followers on X in the last month. The campaign’s TikTok profile grew from 400,000 to nearly 4 million followers since July.
Recent posts on TikTok are a mix of policy messaging and videos promoting Harris’ charm and relatability. On the feed, a slideshow of headlines showing the impact of abortion bans is followed by Harris visiting a high school band practice in Georgia. The comments section took notice of her Converse All-Stars; Harris in Chucks has been a fashion choice closely associated with her brand on the campaign trail.
Some of the campaign’s most popular posts are in the “fan edit” format, featuring thumping soundtracks and glitzy visual effects depicting Harris as a big boss racking up “aura points.” The accounts also tie her closely to artists like Beyoncé , Chappell Roan, Charli XcX, Quavo and Megan Thee Stallion.
“The first video that she posted when she announced she was running was Beyoncé ‘Freedom,’ and it really just made sense in my mind,” Rambus said. “It’s beautiful. A lot of people shared that and resonated with it.”
Democrats gave social media influencers VIP access to the party’s national convention in Chicago earlier this month, credentialing around 200 content creators. Three influencers talked with Harris one-on-one before she sat down with CNN for the first mainstream press interview since becoming the Democratic nominee.
Republicans are working the same angle, offering 70 credentials to conservative influencers at its July convention. Trump has appeared alongside creators like Jake and Logan Paul and Adin Ross. Trump’s TikTok page has twice as many followers as the Harris campaign account.
Recent posts from Trump feature former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard backstage after endorsing him while in Detroit this week. Another video shows Trump laying flowers on the graves of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, despite rules that prohibit political activities at Arlington National Cemetery.
Thursday’s event was also a merch drop for exclusive “Kamala For Everybody” shirts designed by Armani McKalpain in collaboration with the “Detroit Vs. Everybody” clothing brand. McKalpain said it “feels amazing” to contribute to the campaign.
McKalpain, 27, said he’s voted for Democrats in the past two presidential elections he was eligible to participate in, but his first political memory goes back to Obama’s first term in 2008.
“My mom said to me, ‘Democrats are for regular folks,’” McKalpain said. “Kamala feels like one of us. Trump left a bad taste in my mouth. The racism, the attack on the Capitol. He’s scary and unpredictable.”
Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield encouraged attendees to “give real information” about what is at stake in this election. Sheffield warned Trump would outlaw abortion across the country, eliminate the Department of Education and encouraged attendees to read Project 2025, a policy playbook created by a conservative think tank.
Hale said she’s trying to break through the disillusionment she sees from people who don’t think voting has any impact on their lives.
“It’s all about just really making people understand that inaction is the most detrimental thing that you can do for yourself and your community,” Hale said. “It is hard to communicate with somebody that (progress) is incremental, but monumental at the same time.”
Rob said she left Thursday’s event more motivated to find ways to talk about politics with her audience.
“It was definitely a tough choice, having people close to me that don’t agree with my stances on things has prevented me (from posting about politics) in the past,” Rob said. “At the end of the day, I believe in a country that is not aligned with Donald Trump. Kamala Harris is someone that I believe has the power to take this country where I think it needs to go.”