Vice President Kamala Harris launched her TikTok account on July 25th, with rapid social media growth since. Within an hour of its launch, she gained over 100,000 followers; and by the end of the day, she had around 650,000 followers. This was all amid the ‘BRAT Summer’ trend, which contributed to Harris’ viral success.
The term ‘BRAT Summer’ stemmed from British pop sensation Charli XCX’s latest album, titled “BRAT,” featuring viral hits such as “360,” “365,” and “Apple.” These songs gained listeners worldwide through TikTok, with dance videos and edits. Edits of Kamala at a press conference saying, “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context…” reached TikTok users overnight. Each video, with “365” as background music, received over a million views and hundreds of thousands of likes. Charli XCX even took to X to publicly endorse Harris by posting “Kamala IS brat.”
This trend motivated Harris to launch her TikTok account, “I heard that recently I’ve been on the ‘For You Page,’ so I thought I’d get on here myself,” she said.
“I’ve seen her stuff at least twenty times on my TikTok For You Page,” said Mt. Eden senior Alexandria Calvin.
“Trump is appealing to the older folks on social media, specifically Facebook and Truth Social, and I think [Harris’] campaign is going to be more focused on things like TikTok and Instagram. I think that the demographics are different,” said AP Government teacher Steven Elliot.
Gen-Z voters have publicly advocated for Harris’ presidency with these videos on TikTok.
“I think all publicity is good publicity,” said Government teacher Gabriel De La Cruz regarding Kamala’s social media presence.
During the 2020 election, CNBC’s Abigail Johnson Hess reported that exit polls suggest 65% of voters ages 18 through 24 voted for Biden—11% higher than any age group. As the 2024 election is nearing, NBC polls suggest about 60% of young voters plan to support Harris, similar to Biden’s 2020 win. Additionally, NBC’s polls show that voters under 30 who were ineligible to vote in 2020 but now can, prefer Harris over Trump by 26 points (57%-31%).
Elliot said he believes that if Harris is able to win by big margins from Gen Z and Millenials, the biggest voting blocks in the country, she could win the election.
