Content creators. A “Hotties for Harris” party. Plenty of “Kamala is brat” merchandise. These are all signs that Gen Z has taken over the Democratic National Convention, like it or not.
In 2020, Gen Z voters helped Joe Biden win the presidency. This week, Democrats have been courting our generation’s progressives in hopes of winning our votes again in November, this time for Vice President Kamala Harris.
As the Democratic presidential nominee delivers her speech Thursday night, she should remember that Gen Z is watching and ready to follow her lead — as long as she tackles the issues we care about. From my conversations with people at the convention, it seems she’s listening to the young leaders in the room.
“The vice president wants a lot of our voices to be heard, whether that’s on stage, at the big caucus events or at a lot of the events at the DNC,” Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., the first Gen Z member of Congress, told me.
Democrats in my age group are cautiously optimistic about what this means for the presidential election. It’s obvious that the Democratic Party needs the votes of Gen Z to win, to the point that their enthusiasm can be a little overwhelming.
Generation Z is officially part of the conversation
Harris may be a baby boomer, but her campaign has worked tirelessly to win back disaffected Gen Z voters who weren’t enthusiastic about Biden, many of whom are influencers.
Several Zoomers have been speaking throughout the week, including activists like Deja Foxx, a content creator who gave a short, impassioned speech at the DNC on Monday night.
“People my age are making big decisions about their lives, and we deserve a president who supports us,” Foxx said.
These content creators are one of the smartest moves the Democratic Party has made in a long time. Thanks to TikTok, any sound or video recorded at the convention can go viral.
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Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, may not watch the DNC on cable, but they do watch it via social media.
According to an Axios analysis from last fall, a third of social media users under 30 get their news from TikTok. There are also more followers on Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.
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The theme of this year’s convention is “For the People, For Our Future.” It seems Democrats are finally realizing that we are not just the future, we are the present.
“I’m thrilled to see all these young leaders,” Bill Clinton said at the beginning of his speech Wednesday night. “There are a lot of them coming after me. They look better, they sound better, and they’re going to be exciting.”
Harris seems to know this already. She’s spent years championing issues that matter to young voters, like overseeing the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and fiercely advocating for reproductive rights.
Julianna Boye, a Harris aide, said the energy shift was notable. Former first lady Michelle Obama’s speech was notable because it was so different from the “when they go low, we go high” motto she championed in 2016.
“You’ve seen a shift in ideology because of the times we live in, and I think they’ve done a beautiful job of really describing what’s at stake,” she says.
The shift is convenient for Democrats and marks the beginning of a new era in left-wing politics. It also underscores the threat Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump poses to Gen Z in particular.
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“This election means everything to Gen Z,” Jack Lobel, the press officer for the nonprofit Voters of Tomorrow, told me. The group has a booth handing out friendship bracelets and condoms with an anti-Project 2025 message. “Our entire future depends on this election, and we need to act like it. And young people are increasingly acting like them.”
There’s been a huge uptick in youth engagement. Vote.org, a nonpartisan voter registration platform, saw more than 38,500 new registrants, mostly voters under 35, in the two days after Biden dropped out and Harris entered the race. It’s a good sign for the party.
All eyes are on Gen Z in this election. We need to vote.
Sometimes the pressure seems high. I worry that we won’t make it to the moment, even though it will affect us into early adulthood. I worry that we will be blamed if Harris loses, despite the effort my generation put into Harris’ campaign.
It is vital that Zoomers actually vote, and their colleagues at the United Center in Chicago know this all too well.
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“We’re not going to win on vibes alone,” Natalie Fall, the executive director of March For Our Lives, told me. “If we did that, we’d have a good shot. But we really need to have those important conversations with young voters.”
To be fair, both parties seem focused on curating their image and galvanizing their base. At the Republican National Convention, that meant going all-out MAGA. For the Democrats, it means speaking directly to young, hopeful voters. We’ll see how that plays out in November.
Fall is right: Winning Zoomers over on social media isn’t the same as earning their votes. If Harris is up to it, her speech Thursday night will be instrumental in ushering in a new era of Democratic politics.
Follow USA TODAY election columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What time is Kamala Harris giving her speech? Gen Z is waiting
