kamala IS brat(tracting the New Generation of Voters)

After the release of singer-songwriter Charli XCX’s sixth studio album, ‘Brat,’ fans of the artist, referred to as ‘angels,’ began assembling a once esoteric list of jargon that has since infiltrated the vocabularies and TikTok ‘for you’ pages of many. For example, this past summer was widely referred to as the ‘brat summer,’ embracing Charli’s erratic yet blithe aesthetic. Just four weeks after the release of the album, Charli took to X, formerly known as Twitter, exemplifying the use of the newfound dialect by tweeting the words “kamala IS brat.” Receiving over 56 million views, Charli’s simple fragment caught the eyes of not just the users of X but also those of TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and more. Consequently, ‘Kamala HQ,’ the Harris campaign’s social media presence, wholeheartedly adopted the ‘Brat’ aesthetic. In an attempt to appeal to Harris’s young voters, Kamala HQ changed its X profile banner to the coined lime green color and used the notorious Arial font that Charli XCX had endowed her album and its marketing with. Additionally, Kamala HQ championed the joke on TikTok by posting a collection of videos regarding the tweet. Harris is no stranger to this approach, as she has executed numerous appealing campaigns aimed at young voters, sparking discussion across social media platforms.

Since the origins of MySpace, the use of social media as a tool for campaigning has practically skyrocketed in the past decade. In particular, Obama’s presidential campaign opened the door to progressive strategies. Specifically, the creation of the “Students for Barack Obama” Facebook group allowed the former president to appeal to younger voters, similar to Harris’s approach with Kamala HQ. In addition to her social media presence, Kamala HQ, and its strategic involvement in the many trends the Gen Z has popularized, Harris recently appeared on the second most popular podcast on Spotify, Call Her Daddy.

Alex Cooper, Call Her Daddy’s (CHD) host, began the podcast in 2018, with the hopes of creating a community focused on the plethora of topics falling under the umbrella she calls “female locker room talk.” Beginning Harris’s episode, Cooper provided a preface discussing her hopes for the interview, stating that, while CHD is not a political podcast, she couldn’t see herself not being part of the many discussions this year’s election evokes regarding women’s health. Concluding the preface, Cooper acknowledged that her listeners subscribe to a range of different political ideals before telling them that the podcast has invited former president Trump to be interviewed and that he is welcome to take part in the same conversation had with Harris. The interview covered a wide range of topics, including reproductive rights, abuse entrapment, student loan forgiveness, and more. After publishing the interview, Cooper faced backlash from many of her listeners, disappointed that she was taking a political stance, seemingly ignoring the important preface Cooper provided. However, a larger portion of her listeners were grateful for Cooper’s use of her platform to discuss meaningful issues all too relevant in the quickly approaching election. As a result, many took to Cooper’s comment sections on both TikTok and Instagram, claiming that the interview, in turn, changed their perspective, shifting their vote from Trump to Harris.

Consequently, it is evident that Harris’s approach to campaigning via social media has paid off. Utilizing the most accessible link to young voters, it won’t be long until Harris’s campaign strategy becomes a precedent, laying the foundation for modern presidential campaigning.

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