Some Democrats see social media as key to reaching voters : NPR

The Democratic candidate of the US Congress Adelita Grijalva poses with supporters during a primary election party in El Casino Ballroom on July 15, 2025, in South Tucson, Ariz. Grijalva said that social media is important, but it is only a tool in a tool kit that must include the organization of the base, the construction of the coalition and the conversation with people.

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The representative Ritchie Torres is an self-proclaimed introvert, but you may not guess that if you have seen him on social networks. New York’s 37 -year -old Democrat regularly publishes videos of himself on Tiktok, YouTube and Facebook, even if he says – as a millennium born before smartphones – he is not natural to perform in front of a camera.

But Torres adopted online videos because, he says, to succeed as a politician today: “You have to master what I call” the three “.”

He means a 30 -second vertical video, a three -minute success success by cable press and an interview of three -hour filmed podcast.

“Anyone who can master the three excel in the new media ecosystem that has settled in American policy,” said Torres.

In this file photo, the representative Ritchie Torres, Dn.y., speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, on February 7, 2023.

Mariam Zuhaib / AP

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Mariam Zuhaib / AP

And he maintains that it is not only a question of excelling; It’s about surviving. Torres calls this a “moment of extinction for the policy of the establishment”: that if politicians do not seriously have communication with voters and non-vanishing, in all digital spaces where people obtain their information today, and sometimes disinformation, they last shortly in the company.

“You are good or you become extinguished. I mean, it’s life, right?” He added. “It is evolution. Adapting or dying.”

Since President Trump was re -elected in 2024, the Democratic Party has been anxious about what he did. Now, while Democrats are preparing for the mid-term critical elections next year, they try to understand not only their messaging, but how and where to reach voters. And some political analysts say that the Republicans beat democrats when it comes to reaching people online, especially through online videos.

“Democrats are not also good communicators as they should be on social networks,” said Sivan Jacobovitz, co-founder of Van Ness Creative Strategies, a digital agency that works to elect Democrats. Torres is one of his customers.

“A politician should be on all available supports where he can speak to voters, whether social media, television, newspaper or local press,” said Jacobovitz. “But so many elected members look at social media with the aim of a reflection afterwards or a job as an intern, when this is the number one place that people are currently getting their news in America.”

Indeed, more than 50% of Americans are now getting their news from social media and around 75% news on the video form, according to a recent study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. However, when Jacobovitz’s company completed the number of members of the Congress for the elections publish online videos, it revealed that many are barely.

Jacobovitz also says that Democrats often seem more scripted than the Republicans and hesitate to go to Bro pods and the Manosphere, the kingdoms that Donald Trump is largely considered to have conquered, letting him reach a wide range of Americans who avoid politics. This gives Republicans a strategic advantage over democrats, which makes it imperative that Democrats are also on these platforms.

“The defeat we suffered in 2024 felt not only as an electoral defeat, but as a cultural defeat,” said Jacobovitz. “For someone online, it may seem very obvious what we say here, but it is literally the problem on which we are trying to ring the alarm is that things that seem very obvious to people are not systemic.”

This sense of urgency was accelerated by the upset victory of this summer in the primary mayor of New York by the 33 -year -old democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani, who is comfortable without effort online. He often films his interactions with New Yorkers and publishes videos on Tiktok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. This has stimulated the copy efforts of his political rivals, including Instagram videos from Andrew Cuomo, throws a car and Eric Adams making pull -ups.

The Jacobovitz agency advised democratic politicians that if they are not comfortable with this style of communication, “is the ideal moment to retire”. Of course, her agency earns money by creating online political videos, so she could benefit from the criticism of offline politicians.

At this charge, Jacobovitz has this replica: “We often say to the candidates with whom we work: you do not need to hire us to do so, but you must do it who knows what they do and that someone can be their child.”

The campaign staff react to the first results during a primary election party for the Democratic candidate of the US Congress Adelita Grijalva in El Casino Ballroom on July 15, 2025 in South Tucson, Arizona.

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Rebecca Noble / Getty Images

This is exactly what Democrat Adelita Grijalva was responsible for creating Tiktok videos for her current race for the Congress in Arizona: her teenage girl and the friend of her daughter.

“They said:” You have to be on Tiktok “, and I say to myself” I don’t know we have the bandwidth to do it “”, recalls Grijalva. “They are like:” Well, we are going to do ours. Are you okay? “I said:” Of course! “”

The account “Youth for Adelita” Tiktok has about a thousand followers – tiny compared to the opponent Gen Z of Grijalva in Deja Foxx, special primary, 25, who has almost four hundred thousand followers. Foxx is less than half of Grijalva’s age and has generated great excitement and dollars online. But Grijalva beat her 40 points.

“Social media is an important tool in a tool kit, but the elections are not won by likes,” said Grijalva. “There must be an online presence, but it should be to encourage you to try to find out more.”

A successful campaign, she adds, must also involve the organization of the base, strengthening the coalition, speaking with the public and having policies that voters wish. Social media “is very useful for obtaining information,” says Grijalva, “but he does not replace the old-fashioned phone calls and door-to-door”.

The skeptics of the social media train indicate that the race in Arizona as proof that an impressive Tiktok following does not guarantee a victory. For its part, Foxx notes that Grijalva has a unique advantage: she is the daughter of the member of the Congress who held the headquarters, Raúl Grijalva, 77, died earlier this year.

“I did not have the contacts of my father to call DC or advisers to rely on,” said Foxx. “I had to build this from scratch.”

Foxx also maintains that even if she has lost, her race shows that young candidates without inherited political ties can use intelligent social media strategies to carry out viable campaigns. And she says that attracting voters, especially young voters, forces politicians to be visible online.

In this file photo, the activist Deja Foxx participated in the Global Citizen Now conference in New York, April 28, 2023. Foxx presented itself at Congress in 2025 and lost in a democratic primary. But online influencer maintains that Democrats must adopt social media.

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Seth Wenig / AP

“Everyone in Congress or the Senate or Government does not need to be a Tiktok star,” she added, “but that would be good if we had a few in our party.”

There are already some, whose representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York and Jasmine Crockett in Texas, and the Attorney General of North Carolina, Jeff Jackson, a former member of the Congress; They are all democrats with followers in millions.

But Foxx says that many others must do the same, because Tiktok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, video podcasts and other social media sites are where so many Americans are, and that means that politicians must also be there.

“If we do not invest in effective leaders in social media and new media spaces within our party,” she added, “there will be no party for my generation to inherit.”

Torres, the member of the New York Democrat Congress, agrees.

“The results of the 2024 elections revealed that the Republicans in general, and Donald Trump in particular, have a master’s degree in new media,” he said. “The rules of politics are radically rewritten, and many of my colleagues find it difficult to adapt to the new reality.”