CHICAGO — Organizers of the Democratic National Convention described the invitation of 200 content creators to the convention as giving them a “front-row seat to history.”
On that front, the DNC delivered. Vice President Kamala Harris recorded multiple videos over the course of the convention with content creators. Creators were given seats inside the arena in an area dubbed the “creator platform,” and they were able to request surrogate interviews. A yacht party was thrown for them by the Harris campaign.
Harris has yet to sit for an interview with any traditional media outlet, which critics have increasingly hammered her over as her campaign exits its fledging stages.
But Harris’s absence from traditional media outlets does not appear to be impacting the campaign’s ability to reach voters. The DNC touted that across the four-day convention, content created by the influencers, including the ones covering the event virtually, garnered over 350 million views on social media.
“For the first time in history, we used vertical streaming, digital clippings, and content creators to share our story and expand our reach to households across the country,” said Matt Hill, the Democratic National Convention’s senior communications director. “This week, tens of millions of American voters heard the story of how the Harris-Walz ticket is fighting for their families, freedoms, and future.”
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon thinks the DNC’s decision to credential influencers will “pay off big time” as Democrats attempt to reach young voters.
“If you’re the Harris campaign, you need to make sure that you reach those people so they actually vote. I mean, that’s the downside of the youth vote. They just don’t vote in proportions that older voters do,” Bannon told the Washington Examiner.
“So I think it’s great because the reality is, they get three people to get out to vote because of an influencer the DNC reached. Two of them are going to vote for Kamala Harris,” he added.
But the DNC didn’t just include content creators who post political content. One of the influencers Harris recorded videos with was Vidya Gopalan, a creator who posts mostly lifestyle content about being a mother and an Indian American.
Gopalan’s videos highlighted her shared Indian American heritage with Harris and featured the vice president reflecting on her fondest memories of visiting India. The video had 2.7 million views as of Monday.
