TOLEDO, Ohio —
Kamala Harris' social media pages underwent major changes after she received President Joe Biden's endorsement as the Democratic nominee in the 2024 election following his decision to end his reelection bid.
Social media account Kamala HQ started leaning into Generation Z culture and memes as Harris works to secure Democratic delegates ahead of the party's convention in August and challenge Republican nominee Donald Trump. The page's theme is based on Charli XCX's new album 'brat' on social platforms like X, formerly known as Twitter. Charli XCX wrote on X that "kamala IS brat."
"It has been as quick of a change as you can imagine in anything," said JD Fischer, president of Strategy by Fischer. "You have an 81-year-old man who is president of the United States who has been in the U.S. Senate almost as long as the vice president has been alive."
The switch seems to be getting the attention of Gen Z, which will make up almost 17% of the eligible voting population for the 2024 election, according to the Center for Information and Research and Civic Learning and Engagement.
"Anytime young people are looking and news and information humor does help," the director of CIRCLE, Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, said. "Memes may really come into that, but a lot of time young people are looking much more sophisticated things like who gave you that information, how much should they trust that information and should that change their opinion."
The branding and memes are bringing attention to Harris' campaign, but one strategist said if she becomes the nominee, she needs to keep up the momentum and fundraising through November.
"That's the bump," said Matt Zaleski, vice president of Hubbub Marketing. "Now you have got to extend that out. Keep that going. You have got to keep that going past Labor Day. You have got to keep that going past October, early voting."
As for Trump's campaign, strategists said a lot of what he has been doing is different than what is normally seen in politics, and that's part of his appeal.
"Trump is very non-traditional in terms of how he does these things," Fischer said. "He sends out his message out there. And a lot of things campaigns have done in terms of the microtargeting and things, I don't think you see him doing it right."
Fischer said he does not know if there will be a switch in the former president's campaign to start targeting younger voters.