On Thursday, the Kamala Harris campaign will be streaming her vice presidential acceptance speech live on Twitch, marking a new frontier in political campaigning. This move is part of the campaign’s broader strategy to engage young and hard-to-reach voters online through various social media platforms.
The Twitch channel, under the handle “kamalaharris,” joins the campaign’s suite of social and streaming accounts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube.
Harris’ spokesperson, Seth Schuster, emphasized that this move is crucial in breaking through a historically personalized media landscape:
“Our job as the campaign is to break through a historically personalized media landscape, taking the VP and her vision for the future directly to the hardest-to-reach voters and those who will decide this election”.
The Harris-Walz campaign has invested heavily in digital efforts, hiring over 175 staffers across digital organizing, content creation, and digital advertising and fundraising. This digital strategy appears to be paying off; in the week following her jump to the top of the Democratic ticket, the rebranded KamalaHQ TikTok account saw its followers quintuple, with Harris-focused content receiving 232 million views and 33 million likes.
All around the media
The campaign is also extending access to independent creators who will cover the Democratic National Convention this week. This marks the first time these individuals have been allowed to attend the DNC, providing them with opportunities to interview politicians and party leaders like DNC chair Jaime Harrison.
While the Harris campaign isn’t the first to join Twitch (Joe Biden and Donald Trump joined in 2020), it’s clear that they’re using this platform strategically. Trump’s account was suspended following the January 6 attack on the Capitol, but has since been reinstated. When the Biden channel launched, the team streamed a live feed from the back of a train while playing lo-fi beats reminiscent of 24-hour relaxing music streams.
As politics continues to evolve in the digital age, it will be fascinating to see how campaigns leverage platforms like Twitch to engage with voters and break through the noise of personalized media. The Kamala Harris campaign’s foray into Twitch is just one example of this ongoing shift towards more interactive and immersive campaigning.
Featured image credit: kamalaharris.com
