Exclusive: DNC taps Harris' viral wizards for new social media push
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The Democratic National Committee is tapping veterans of the wildly popular @KamalaHQ social media team for a new rapid response push ahead of Donald Trump's return to office, Axios learned.
Why it matters: The push is the latest sign of the party's efforts to rebrand and bring in new audiences after a disappointing 2024 cycle.
Driving the news: The new rapid response @FactPostNews initiative will try to combat online misinformation and respond to Trump administration actions by pushing out memes, videos and graphics.
- The account will be run by many of the same people who led the @KamalaHQ social media account during the 2024 campaign.
- @FactPostNews will start on X, Threads, and Bluesky and will eventually expand to TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.
- "The Republican disinformation machine is powerful, but we believe a stronger weapon is giving people the facts about how Trump and his administration are screwing over the American people," DNC chief mobilization officer Shelby Cole said in a statement.
Between the lines: The account will also take a branding cue from social media accounts that have huge, loyal followings, such as PopCrave and PopBase.
- The war room relaunch is the latest example of the Democratic Party trying to sharpen its online presence — particularly on alternative media platforms — after the election revealed that Trump's media strategy broke through.
Zoom out: The DNC is also teeing up fresh economic attacks on Trump as he takes office, per a memo obtained by Axios.
- Over the next several weeks of confirmation hearings, the DNC will try to spotlight the personal wealth of many of Trump's picks for key government positions, per the memo.
- Trump's projected Cabinet is worth at least $10 billion, according to research by Axios' Zach Basu and the nonprofit Americans for Tax Fairness.
- The DNC will also warn that Trump's proposed policies will walk back some of the economic progress made under President Biden.
- "Trump's MAGA loyalists in Congress are gearing up to push through these unfit billionaire picks and Trump's anti-working families agenda," the memo reads.
Zoom out: The economy — and Trump's repeated focus on it on the campaign trail — was a major reason for his victory in November.
- As the candidate associated with the incumbency, Vice President Harris struggled to make a compelling economic pitch to voters.
The bottom line: It's never too early to start messaging for 2028 (and 2026).
- With their new initiatives out this week, the DNC is signaling where its priorities will lie, at least in the beginning days of the new Trump administration: Economic messaging and refining their digital outreach.
