‘Hottie’ Democrats and Chappell Roan Fans: Meet the 200 TikTokers Who Got Convention Access | 2024 Democratic National Convention

MMore than 200 content creators descended on Chicago this week, bringing their ring lights and casual attire attempts as part of a historic Democratic National Convention initiative to accredit nontraditional media.

Memes fueled the initial excitement around Kamala Harris’s last-minute presidential bid, and the campaign aimed to produce more viral moments by granting creators access during that crucial week. Many, if not most, of the creators paid for their own travel to Chicago. Some were sent by political action committees. On the convention floor, they danced to Chappell Roan, secured interviews with lawmakers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Raphael Warnock, and filmed videos of their convention outfits. Is their content breaking through?

Among the convention’s most notable creators are Deja Foxx, who worked with the Harris campaign in 2019 as a surrogate strategist and spoke on the convention floor this week; Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who has used TikTok to spotlight pro-Palestinian protesters; menstrual equity activist Nadya Okamoto, who interviewed Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer about her first period; and fashion influencer Vidya Gopalan, who spoke to Harris about sharing a last name with the vice president’s late mother.

The way Americans consume their news will look very different in 2024.

See how close the DNC’s “content creation platform” is to the stage.

Democrats have accredited hundreds of influencers to document the convention this year. pic.twitter.com/eRCPr10fCv

— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) August 19, 2024

A Wired article about an influencer party describes a scene that included a special couch for J.D. Vance, a “wall of weirdos” with photos of Republican leaders, a wall of Democratic “hotties” like Travis Kelce, and an arcade with an “abortion access Skee-Ball.” Liz Plank, a journalist and creator with over 589,000 followers, posted a video from the party in which she asked men who tried to buy her a drink to donate to an abortion fund.

The content of the event isn’t entirely favorable to Harris. Charlie Kirk, founder of the right-wing organization Turning Point USA, posted videos from the convention, including one in which he provoked the Georgia Young Democrats chairman with the question, “What is a woman?” The Free Press’ Bari Weiss has assembled a hodgepodge of interviews with Harris voters who struggle to name any of her policies.

But the majority of creators in attendance support Harris and want their viewers to do the same. This year, Democrats expect millions of Gen Z voters to head to the polls for the first time, and TikTok is Gen Z’s top news source, with a third of U.S. adults under 30 telling Pew Research Center that they regularly get their news from the app. “Everyone is really excited that we’re here because we have a direct connection to the youth vote, and everyone wants to make content with us,” said Alexis Williams, a TikToker who posts about fashion, Stem and social justice.

Still, she said it can be difficult to bridge the gap between those under 30 and older politicians at the convention. “It’s hard to stand next to an older person and say, ‘OK, we’re going to do this joke about Republicans, or play this Chappell Roan song, I swear it’s going to make sense.’ They’re like, ‘What does that mean?’”

Williams’ videos reveal what’s behind the scenes at the convention. She’s posted a tour of the “creator penthouse” overlooking the convention stage, filmed herself taking free Plan B and UTI tests out of an after-party handing out reproductive health products, and had fun on the convention floor in a pink tweed dress.

Intimate videos are all the rage on TikTok. Kory Aversa, a 51-year-old publicist and content creator from Philadelphia, is treating the event like a red carpet, filming VIPs like Ocasio-Cortez, Tim and Gwen Walz and Jesse Jackson from a few feet away.

“My style of content makes you feel like you’re sitting next to me,” Aversa said. “It’s one thing to see a beautiful photo in the newspaper, but it’s another thing to walk into the convention with me and say, ‘Holy crap, this is epic, Stephen Colbert is here.’ I want people to feel that way with me.”

The Harris campaign’s official TikTok, @KamalaHQ, also follows this philosophy, posting videos of staffers wearing Harris-Walz camouflage hats and cheering during speeches.

“When you watch CNN or Fox News, you know exactly what you’re going to see,” said Heather Gardner, a 36-year-old TikToker who covers the convention. “You’re going to hear the speeches and the talking heads. But the beauty of what we do here is that everyone is unique and different.” For Gardner, that means posting videos of impersonator Matt Friend doing his best waltz, or of herself walking around the convention floor in a brat green suit and a coconut tree T-shirt.

(Some of the antics made mainstream headlines: Two young men wearing “Twinks for Kamala” T-shirts ended up on CNN, to the delight of internet addicts.)

RaeShanda Lias, a 43-year-old content creator from Louisville, Kentucky, got invitations to the convention from the Congressional Black Caucus, the Human Rights Campaign, and Emerge America, a nonprofit that supports Democratic women running for office. (Lias is a past participant in the program, having run for Louisville City Council in 2018.) She says influencers were given free rein to post whatever they wanted, so not all of their videos ended up being focused on politics.

“My content is about facts, fashion and fun,” Lias said. In a video that has been liked more than 58,000 times, Lias shows off a sky blue suit she wore to the Congressional Black Caucus brunch, while joking about how “modest” the outfit was. “But we’re all coming together to help elect the first Black and Asian woman to the highest office in this country,” she said.

Despite all the buzz surrounding this class of convention influencers, there is still a clear line between journalists and content creators. Creators don’t disseminate information. Most don’t fact-check, and many simply cover events. In this tense environment, Reuters reported that traditional media journalists are having to “fight for space” against creators, with journalists getting less access.

“I had a major awakening yesterday where I was like, ‘Oh my God, we have so much more access than people who have been doing this for decades,’” Williams said.

It can be tense at times. “Creators learn how to behave around journalists, and journalists learn how to behave around creators,” Aversa said. “I was at an event where a journalist came and asked some creators to be careful not to hold their phones up and block the cameras. We all have to coordinate with each other.”

It’s clear that most creators are using their access to contribute to Harris’s hopecore campaign, which is still buzzing. But while she’s openly pro-Harris on social media, Williams says she doesn’t want her content to feel like an ad for Harris. “A lot of us approach our content by saying, ‘Here are the reasons why we support her, and you should go out and do it, but be insightful and informed about the process,’” she said. “Giving people information about how the DNC works helps us create strategies that will make our administrations listen to us, so we can get what we want out of politics.”

As Gardner said on TikTok: “Good vibes aren’t enough.”