On Aug. 19, 2024, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago launched a week of speeches, seminars, and formal procedures to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for the presidential election. With the final speech of the DNC on Aug. 22, Harris’ address capped off the four days with the Democratic platform and her commitment to the American people.
A week filled with appearances from hundreds of elected officials, senators, governors, U.S. representatives, and both former and current U.S. presidents, it also featured speeches from comedian Kenan Thompson, Steve Kerr, and Steph Curry, and actors Kelly Washington and Tony Goldwyn. The DNC saw the party increase efforts towards youth engagement, inviting social media stars and content creators to speak on panels and push out media in hopes of reaching younger audiences, captivating high school students like Sanchi Deshpande ’26 to get involved in politics themselves.
“With the DNC being [in Chicago] this year, everything felt more real,” Deshpande said. “With their focus on the youth through social media, seeing the hype and discussion around an event so close to home made me feel more connected to the political world.”
According to Bloomberg, the Harris-Walz campaign is projected to spend nearly $370 million on digital and television ads from now until Nov. 5. Students like Deshpande learned more about this election’s political landscape and became more familiar with Harris’ platform. Robin Kelly, the U.S. representative from Illinois’ 2nd district, believes this practice of social media campaigning is historic and will set a precedent for future elections.
“American politics hasn’t ever seen the influence of digital media to this extent before,” Kelly said. “When Vice President Harris uses album covers and popular creators to brandish her messages across platforms, she’s capitalizing on an untapped market of young people who historically aren’t catered to by presidential candidates.”
Throughout the DNC, a stretched-out lime green Arial font emblematic of the Harris-Walz social media campaign effort could be seen. Taken from popstar Charli XCX’s studio album “BRAT,” the campaign became synonymous with the artist’s “B2b,” remixing the song with Harris’ slogan of “We are not going back.” Creative branding through social media edits similar to this is what Adit Mehta ’28 finds exciting about this upcoming election.
“Usually, I scroll past ads, but this time, I’m watching for what [Harris] has to say,” Mehta said. “Because those messages, which I see on YouTube shorts or TikTok, are a great way to reach out and get more youth involved.”
According to Statistics, in July 2024, 55 percent of voters aged between 18 and 29 participated in the 2020 presidential election, the highest in recent history. For students like Mehta, social media efforts and engaging content through digestible mediums like Instagram and TikTok are exactly the efforts to get the youth more involved in the election process. Deshpande views the increased social media interaction from the DNC as a means for new members to get involved.
“I’ve always been interested and involved [in the political field], and the strategies talked about in speeches [at the DNC] give me so many new opportunities to go out there and help increase voter turnout,” Deshpande said. “The new methods for campaigning can help students be more informed.”
At this time, presidential polls show more young citizens voting in Harris’ favor. A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released August 29 found young people swung 24 points between June and August, from favoring former President Trump over President Biden by 11 points to picking Harris over Trump by 13 points. However, Kelly believes that relying too heavily on the youth vote may detract from the country.
“The campaign is certainly creative, but it’s niche to the point where only a fraction of your voters can truly understand and relate with the marketing context,” Kelly said. “In an election as nail-biting as this one is shaping up to be, [Harris] should focus her attention on the whole country, not just its future.”
As the convention finished on Aug. 22, 2024, Harris’s vice president, Governor Walz, made a surprise appearance at the Youth Caucus meeting at the DNC. Walz spoke directly to 6,000 youth representatives from across the nation about the importance of youth to the campaign and the country. Walz echoed the statements of Deshpande and Mehta, emphasizing why youth involvement in politics matters.
“Every issue, from climate change to student loans, will impact your generation and every generation onwards,” Walz said. “This is going to close, but it’s an election that will be won by your demographic if you show up and vote. This is the fight of a lifetime.”