President Joe Biden, who has yet to officially announce he is running for reelection, is reportedly going to rely on an “army” of online “influencers” for his reelection campaign and they could have their own “briefing room” at the White House.
The president’s campaign seeks to “boost Biden’s standing among young voters who are crucial to Democrats’ success in elections” and will be used to counter former President Donald Trump’s “massive social media following” if he is the nominee, Axios reported.
The report noted that the president’s digital strategy team would like to connect with influencers across the county to help Biden tout his record to those who do not follow the social media accounts of Biden, the White House, or the Democratic Party. Reportedly, there are four Biden digital staffers — run by Rob Flaherty, who has been named assistant to the president and will hold the same rank as press secretary — focused on influencers and independent content creators on the White House payroll, not the Biden campaign.
Some “unpaid and like-minded” content creators working with the White House include TikTokers Harry Sisson, who talks about news on the Chinese social media app, and Vivian Tu, who talks about financial topics on the Chinese social media app.
Biden’s effort comes as polling shows younger voters, ages 18 to 29, preferred Biden over the former president by a 26-point margin during the last presidential election and preferred Democrats over Republicans by a 28-point margin in the 2022 midterms, according to a Tufts University Tisch College poll.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, White House deputy chief of staff, told Axios, “We’re trying to reach young people, but also moms who use different platforms to get information and climate activists and people whose main way of getting information is digital.”
Axios also noted that social media influencers might have their own briefing room in the future and allow influencers more access to the president. Sisson had reportedly asked the White House, “When are we going to get press briefing passes?” He noted that the White House was “very responsive to it.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
