Singer/songwriter Charli XCX posted on X, “Kamala IS Brat” in July of this year. Soon after, memes and edits of Harris in ‘Brat Green’ flooded social media.
Seventy-five percent of BHS students polled by the Register knew what ‘Brat’ was. For those not in the know, “Brat” is the title of Charli XCX’s 2024 album characterized by its bright green, loud aesthetic. The album inspired ‘Brat Summer’ which was a lifestyle trend characterized by letting loose, having a good time, and staying out late, according to Philip Hamilton of KnowYourMeme.
Kamala HQ’s X page was quick to embrace the “Brat” designation by bathing each page in ‘Brat Green’ and creating signs inspired by the Brat album cover. Harris’s campaign knows they need young voters to win the 2024 election. A recent Harvard Youth Poll of likely voters aged 18-29 showed Harris leading Trump 64% to 32%. In a recent Washington Post article, John Della Volpe, director of that poll says, “It’s an incredibly consequential subgroup of voters.”
Sienna Pitts ‘25 runs BHS’s sports-focused Instagram site @bhssuperfans2. She also helps with media design in the yearbook and follows @kamalahq, Harris’s official response page, on TikTok. “I think that her campaigning on TikTok definitely has an impact,” Pitts said. “The things that she posts on TikTok are more relevant to our younger generation.”
It may be. The Kamala Harris campaign raised 257 million dollars in August, compared to Donald Trump’s 85 million dollars during the same month, according to ABC. About half of her donors are first-time donors, and 28% are under 45 years old, up from 10% in July when Biden was the presumptive nominee.
According to Michael Fahey, the CEO of Fahey Communications, as reported by Newsweek, Harris’s techniques appear to be different from other campaign strategies, as she uses social media, and aims towards younger voters.
It isn’t a political campaign on social media, rather it’s social media featuring a political campaign,” Fahey said.
On @kamalahq, Harris’s team has posted light-hearted videos of her dancing, laughing and meeting supporters.
In running @bhssuperfans2, Pitts uses techniques similar to Harris to gain student interest and audience. She explains that she uses emojis and capital letters and tries to keep jokes “short and sweet.”
“[The key is] finding things that are relevant to today, and things that I know that will draw people’s attention,” Pitts said.
Pitts said that Harris is doing just that- finding things that are relevant to teenagers. Sure, having Taylor Swift endorse the Harris campaign brings a lot of attention, but Harris has proven that she doesn’t need celebrities to break through to a younger audience. At a White House event last year, Vice President Kamala Harris quoted her mother, saying, “I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”
Sam Doherty ‘26 has worked with numerous politicians, such as Joan Shannon, Geoff Hand, Thomas Renners, and Vermont congresswoman Becca Balint. Doherty thinks that Harris humanizes herself to the American public with this media strategy.
Doherty explains, “It’s a lot easier to excite new and younger voters.”
“I think these days we see a lot of really hard stuff online, and a lot of hard stuff with American politics,” Doherty said. “So to see that she is a real person and that she has feelings, and she laughs and she cries, I think attracts people to her in a way we haven’t seen before.”
This clip resurfaced after her endorsement, sparking a wave of internet memes with users creating remixes and dances.
Ione Burns, a voting senior, says that Harris’s social media campaign hasn’t affected her opinion much. “I already knew I would likely vote for the Democratic nominee, but I do think her campaign has a strong appeal for younger voters.”
