Harris Is Beating Trump at His Own Game With an Influencer Army

Pratish Narayanan
·8-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Chartreuse green. Coconut trees. Venn diagrams. They’re motifs of a “brat” summer that has memed Kamala Harris into a narrow but perceptible lead against the master of social media — Donald Trump.

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Now, as she prepares to be coronated as her party’s nominee in a presidential campaign dominated more by vibes than policy, Harris needs to keep the momentum going. So she is turning to about 200 social-media influencers, who for the first time ever have received privileges such as access to delegates and studio space at the Democratic National Convention.

It’s a reflection of the campaign’s belief that social media creators are at least as important as traditional media organizations for getting its message to voters. What’s more, some of them — not bound by journalistic doctrine against the appearance of bias — will even make speeches at the DNC in Chicago to rally support for Harris.

Monday night featured Deja Foxx, a Columbia University graduate whose website describes her as an activist “leading thought at the intersection of social justice and social media.” She is focused on reproductive rights, an issue that has given Democrats ammunition against the Republicans after a conservative majority in the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade’s federal abortion protections.

@deja_foxx

#DNC Day 0 #OOTD

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“She’ll deliver a future where we can decide if and when to start a family, a future where we can afford rent and groceries, a future where we’re not crushed under student debt, a future where any free lunch kid can walk through the gates of their dream college,” said Foxx, who has almost 140,000 followers on TikTok and about 52,000 followers on Instagram. “For young people, this is a fight for our future.”

On Sunday, after arriving in Chicago for the convention, she posted two “outfit check” videos in which she sported a Stella McCartney dress that she said she’d bought secondhand and a “vintage 2020 primaries Kamala tee” featuring a childhood picture of Harris in pigtails.

Foxx, who worked on Harris’ failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, is now based in Arizona, where polls show a tight presidential race. Republicans are pushing border security where they sense Harris could be vulnerable, but face their own challenges on reproductive rights. An amendment to enshrine abortion protections in the state’s constitution will be on the ballot in November, which could fuel Democratic turnout.

Apart from Foxx, four other influencers — Olivia Julianna, Carlos Eduardo Espina, Nabela Noor and John Russell — will speak at the DNC this week, according to a person familiar with the matter. They’ll share the same spotlight reserved for Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, as well as the most powerful Democrats, including Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

On the sidelines of the convention Monday, online influencers were provided a special pavilion and luxury box to promote Harris’ candidacy. Democratic aides brought officials over to a “blue carpet” to be interviewed by the social media stars, who sipped free beer while cutting videos. In the convention hall, some had prepositioned ring lights to capture themselves during some of the more marquee events.

“I’m not sure I understand it in its entirety, but I think it’s important and certainly it seems to be impactful with young people in particular, so you’ve got to embrace it,” said Congressman Jesus "Chuy" Garcia of Illinois, referring to the content creators.

The focus on influencers stands in contrast to the Harris campaign’s approach so far to journalists. Since Biden’s exit from the race, the vice president hasn’t sat for an interview with a news organization or taken questions from reporters at a formal press conference. Her opponent Trump is engaging more with the press in a bid to goad Harris into unscripted settings herself, in the hope that she stumbles or reverts back to the more liberal policy positions she espoused before joining Biden’s 2020 campaign as his running mate.

Harris has pledged to do a sit-down interview before the end of the month.

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Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar on Monday celebrated the Democratic party’s recent success on social media, particularly compared with former president Trump's past dominance. “One of the frustrations for us and our party is that these guys just captured the Internet,” she told a group of New York delegates at the DNC. “Not this time.”

Klobuchar highlighted the surfacing of controversial comments made by Trump running mate JD Vance disparaging “childless cat ladies,'' sparking blowback not just from Democrats but also some Republicans.

“When we found that video on cat ladies, the cat ladies of the country united,” she said. “When they go after Kamala for coconut trees, there’s coconut memes, there’s brat summer, there’s her laugh set to Zoom music. We have taken this back.”

Though Vance clarified that he was criticizing the Democratic Party for “becoming anti-family and anti-child,” rather than targeting people who couldn’t have kids, his original remarks have contributed to a view that the GOP ticket is adversarial to women. The influencer Noor, set to speak on Tuesday at the DNC and whose social media feeds feature everything from recipes to makeup tips and travelogues, has spoken passionately on her YouTube channel, where she has over 1 million followers, about the challenges she and her husband faced in conceiving a child.

@nabela

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While that’s likely to resonate with Democratic diehards at the DNC, a pinned video on her TikTok account also provides a window into a challenge the Democrats are contending with among the Gen Z crowd. Noor speaks about why she deleted an earlier post expressing “compassion for the innocent civilians” affected by the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, a militant group designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union.

“I just assumed that all of my followers knew of my past posts and support for the Palestinian cause in the past year,” she said in the video, while simultaneously applying makeup. “If I could do one thing differently, it would be to be even clearer about my support for the Palestinian movement for peace and freedom while still sharing my sympathy of course for Israeli civilians.”

The elevation of influencers like Noor is the party’s attempt to capture the attention of young voters, a core component of the Democratic base that was unenthusiastic about Biden’s bid for reelection. Since his exit from the race, they’ve warmed to Harris, but some of them are still skeptical of the vice president's response to the Israel-Hamas war.

Noor’s video clarifying her views on the conflict shows how the turmoil in Gaza continues to be the biggest and most divisive issue driving many young Democrats to turn on the party. Harris has adopted a more sympathetic tone than Biden toward the plight of Palestinians, but her refusal to disavow Israel — which has been bombarding Gaza as part of its stated goal of eliminating Hamas — has angered the activists.

#BREAKINGNEWS MIC DROP! Vice President and Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris tells hecklers. "If you want Donald Trump then just say that. Otherwise I am Speaking." ???? pic.twitter.com/IIhJlzXPsN

— Ford News (@FordJohnathan5) August 8, 2024

Chicago has been bracing for protests over the conflict after pro-Palestinian groups planned mass demonstrations urging followers to “Shut Down the DNC for Gaza!”. Through Monday afternoon, thousands of demonstrators have marched the city’s streets.

Harris has also faced off against protesters during her campaign. “Kamala, Kamala you can’t hide! We won’t vote for genocide,” a group of them yelled at a rally in Detroit earlier this month. The visibly annoyed vice president responded: “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”

Among the other influencers scheduled to speak at the convention, Espina is the most popular on TikTok, with over 10 million followers on the platform. His focus is immigration, among the top concerns for voters in this election cycle and a cudgel that Trump and the GOP frequently pick up to attack Democrats.

It’s a vulnerability for Harris in particular. Republicans have seized on the vice president’s portfolio that included addressing the root causes of migration.

Espina, 25, makes videos targeted toward uplifting the immigrant community. Earlier in the summer, he filmed a video with Biden after the president announced a policy that looks to expand options for certain undocumented individuals and some spouses of US citizens. In a more recent video, he filmed himself in Chicago, saying he was “in the middle of the action” to keep his audience informed.

“There should be no wrong door for engaging with voters,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said at an event on Monday. “We’re speaking to them about the issues that matter most, and I’ve been really impressed, starting with brat summer to the work that’s going on now online. It's been very, very impressive. I’m someone who really enjoys communicating with my fellow Pennsylvanians on Tiktok, Instagram, wherever. It is really important to meet people where they are.”

--With assistance from Amanda L Gordon, Hadriana Lowenkron, Maria Elena Vizcaino, Ella Ceron, Miranda Davis, Isis Almeida and Skylar Woodhouse.

(Updates with comment from Illinois congressman in 10th paragraph)

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