Kamala Harris Embraces Gen Z Culture to Attract Younger Voters
Gen Z can make a meme out of anything – even the presidential election. That’s why teenagers don’t question TikToks about Kamala Harris’ “aura points” or flashy fan edits of Harris’ speeches. At least, they’re unphased until they see a verified check mark next to the uploader’s username and realize these Gen Z-coded memes were posted by none other than Harris’ official TikTok campaign page, @kamalahq.
Harris has recently taken the spotlight, raising $81 million for her campaign within the 24-hour time period after Biden stepped down. Since then, her campaign team has continued promoting Harris in countless ways – the most notable method, from Gen Z’s lens, being her social media campaigns.
Unlike Hillary Clinton’s infamous “Pokémon go to the polls” quote, Harris’ campaign is smoothly tapping into Gen Z culture without coming off as “cringe.” A large aspect of her campaign has been based on Gen Z’s largest summer trend: brat summer.
Singer and songwriter Charli xcx’s newest album “brat,” released on June 7, redefines a brat as someone who is “just that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes,” Charli explained in a TikTok.
“Brat” quickly gained traction, debuting No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and becoming the highest charting album of her career.
But “brat” isn’t just an album – it’s a lifestyle. The album cover’s signature lime green background and low quality arial font combination led Gen Z to partake in brat summer, a season to party, embrace chaos and be unapologetically themselves.
In the height of brat summer, Charli single-handedly influenced Harris’ campaign with a three-word tweet: “kamala IS brat.” Harris’ campaign team took the endorsement further, rebranding their X page to mimic the “brat” album cover.
The rebrand took Gen Z by storm, many creating their own fancams of Harris with tracks from “brat” in the background.
“Once Kamala’s headquarters started embracing ‘brat,’ young voters started thinking about her more and thought she was relatable,” 16-year-old Fremont resident Olivia Ma said. “I think it’s turned a lot of the vote towards her.”
Along with her brat-ified campaign, her team has also embraced Gen Z memes and trends on TikTok.
One TikTok slideshow posted by her official campaign account was to Chappell Roan’s “Femininomenon” song, saying the winner of the race should be a “femininomenon” – a mixture of “feminine” and “phenomenon.” Since the TikTok blew up with 56 million views and 7.3 million likes, the audio has been taken over by Gen Z, creating their own fan edits endorsing Harris.
Orinda resident, 18-year-old Mika Strickler will be a first-time voter in November.
“It’s very refreshing and hopeful to see that we could have a Madam President who is so energetic and in touch with our youth culture,” Strickler said. “It’s encouraging young people to engage in politics.”
Harris’ relatability and attention to Gen Z has landed on young voters’ radars. Her campaign makes Gen Z feel heard, and has in turn crafted her into the perfect candidate for first and second-time voters.
“With Biden, there was a sense that he was the best we have right now, so we have to go along with him,” Strickler added. “But with Harris, people are inspired and proud to have her as a candidate, which is the push the Democratic Party needs to get out there, vote and become more united.”
