WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris has Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. Donald Trump has Kid Rock, Waka Flocka Flame and Hulk Hogan.
As the 2024 campaign enters its final week, Democrats are noticeably leaning on their star power advantage, calling on a diverse range of celebrities to endorse Harris, invigorate audiences and, they hope, spur people to the ballot box.
Democrats have long enjoyed a celebrity advantage and used it to close out presidential campaigns when attention and energy are critical. That upper hand has grown during Trump’s rise, a period that saw scores of celebrities, even apolitical stars, break their silence and speak out against the Republican leader.
Beyoncé, right, and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris embrace Friday during a campaign rally in Houston.
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Annie Mulligan, Associated Press
Weeks before the election on Oct. 20, Harris got an assist from music legend Stevie Wonder in Jonesboro, Georgia, who rallied churchgoers with a rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” Days later in Atlanta, Harris and former President Barack Obama headlined a rally that featured a performance by Springsteen and speeches from famed filmmaker Spike Lee and actor Samuel L. Jackson. The campaign followed that up a day later with a rally in Texas featuring a performance by Willie Nelson and a speech from Beyoncé.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, has also benefited from the celebrity push. Singer-songwriter James Taylor performed at events with the governor in North Carolina this month. Walz, along with Harris, spoke at an event in Michigan on Monday that included a five-song set from singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers.
Harris and Democrats aren’t just leaning on performances at events, either. After Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian who spoke at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean,” the Democrat’s campaign received public support from rapper Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and artist Ricky Martin, three of the best known Puerto Rican celebrities. The three have more than 300 million followers combined on different social media platforms.
Musician Willie Nelson performs Friday at event for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris at a rally in Houston.
Susan Walsh
Many of the events are part of Harris’ “When We Vote We Win” concert series that aims to spur supporters to vote early in key battlegrounds. She is expected to have more high-profile endorsers in the coming days.
Her rally Wednesday in Madison, Wis., was scheduled to feature performances from Gracie Abrams, Mumford & Sons, Remi Wolf and The National’s Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner. On Thursday, her rally in Arizona will feature Los Tigres del Norte, a famed norteño band originally from Sinaloa, Mexico. And finally, on Friday, Harris will headline a rally in Las Vegas featuring Maná, a Mexican pop rock band originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, and a speech from Lopez.
The 2020 campaign was a celebrity outlier. Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, large campaign events were uncommon, especially on the Democratic side. Celebrities appeared in social media videos for then-former Vice President Joe Biden, who went on to defeat Trump.
Trump does enjoy the support of celebrities with a deep appeal to his core base of voters, like singer Lee Greenwood, television personality Dr. Phil McGraw and former football stars like Brett Favre, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. Country singer Jason Aldean recently spoke at a Trump rally in Georgia and Nick Bosa, a star defensive lineman for the San Francisco 49ers, recently jumped into a teammate’s post-game interview to show a MAGA hat.
Hulk Hogan waves an American flag Sunday at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York.
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Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Associated Press
But the Republican candidate largely doesn’t have an answer for Harris’ celebrity-infused events. Trump, whose career has turned him into a celebrity, often provides the star power at his events. And when a speaker like Hinchcliffe makes headlines at a Trump event, it can cause problems for the Republican campaign.
The focus on celebrity events is typified by raucous events in arenas and often leaves Democrats upbeat and hopeful about their chances. But the strategy can also paint over issues: When crowds are juiced by celebrities and musical performances, problems with a candidate’s message or hold on an important base of voters can be obscured, a trend that was highlighted by former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 run.
The final week of Clinton’s campaign eight years ago was a veritable red carpet of musical icons and celebrities. Her final rally as a candidate, a feverish event in North Carolina, was headlined by Jon Bon Jovi and Lady Gaga. Her final event with former President Barack Obama culminated in a performance by Springsteen on Independence Mall in Philadelphia.
Kid Rock performs July 18 at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
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Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press
She capped her campaign in Ohio with a performance from Jay-Z and Beyoncé in Cleveland. And just days earlier she filled Bayfront Park Amphitheater in downtown Miami, Florida with an eye-popping performance by Lopez.
The Clinton campaign left each respective battleground state invigorated that the energy they felt at the event could carry them to victory.
Days later, Clinton lost North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida, and then-businessman Trump was elected president.
Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, and the 10 political pages spending the most on Facebook to court your vote
Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, and the 10 political pages spending the most on Facebook to court your vote
Oct 29, 2024
Every four years, presidential candidates raise hundreds of millions of dollars that they pour into events, appearances, staffing, TV ads, and, increasingly, targeted social media campaigns.
At the end of August, Vice President Kamala Harris had raised $235.5 million and former President Donald Trump had raised $134.6 million, according to public filings with the Federal Election Commission.
What’s more, according to data analyzed by researchers at the Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship, the Harris campaign outspent the Trump campaign on Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, in the 12 months leading up to September. That’s despite Harris’ late entrance into the race at the end of July.
Collabstr analyzed advertising data from Meta made public by Syracuse University’s IDJC to illustrate how the Republican and Democratic parties and political influencers are spending advertising dollars on Facebook and Instagram ahead of the hotly contested presidential election. Data was collected from Meta in partnership with Neo4j and analyzed by the IDJC. The database includes posting and spending activity for almost the last year, spanning September 2023 through August 2024.
While he was outspent over the period studied, former President Trump also owns his own social media platform, Truth Social, where he pushes his platform to loyal followers. Elon Musk, the current owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, has been one of Trump’s closest allies over the course of this campaign.
Seven of the top 10 Facebook pages with the highest ad spending over the period studied were progressive-leaning pages, according to the IDJC. Two of the top 10 were conservative-leaning pages, and one—for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—was labeled cross-ideological.
The findings match overall campaign spending trends in FEC data where the Harris campaign is on track to have nearly twice the cash on hand compared to the Trump campaign. Cash on hand represents the money the campaign has in the bank after expenses at any given point in time, as opposed to the total money raised. The 2020 election represented the most expensive election on record for both the presidential race and congressional races. For political parties hoping to pass their agendas, winning more seats in the House and Senate is equally important to gaining the White House.
This year, AdImpact projects $10.2 billion will be spent on political advertising, making it the most expensive cycle of all time. That figure includes not only the presidential and congressional races but also gubernatorial races and down-ballot spending on local elections. While most of that money will be funneled into ads appearing on cable and broadcast television, $1.2 billion is projected to go into digital—ads appearing online and on social media networks.
Over the years, social media has been a powerful tool in boosting election and civic engagement information among younger citizens who have historically not exercised their right to vote. Meanwhile, strategically placed misinformation on social media platforms can also negatively impact turnout and perceptions of candidates.
Read on to see how the pages spending the most on this election cycle are trying to reach and influence users around the country.
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Ciano // Stacker // Getty Images
Democratic Governors Association (DGA)
Oct 29, 2024
– Ad impressions: 44,195,696
– Money spent: $1,603,587
Far fewer gubernatorial seats are up for reelection this year—just 14 compared to 36 in the 2022 midterm elections. The DGA has been putting its weight and ad spending behind call-to-action style ads asking users to complete a poll gauging their support for Kamala Harris.
Janece Flippo // Shutterstock
AFP Action
Oct 29, 2024
– Ad impressions: 131,170,411
– Money spent: $2,801,633
Americans for Prosperity Action is a libertarian conservative group affiliated with the influential Koch family. The group targeted ads at users in a dozen states, including Arizona, promoting Republican candidates for the House of Representatives.
Gorodenkoff // Shutterstock
The Daily Scroll
Oct 29, 2024
– Ad impressions: 228,232,784
– Money spent: $2,821,356
The Daily Scroll is a page managed by the Harris campaign that shares favorable news articles and puts ad money behind posts, propelling them into users’ feeds that it targets. It’s spent a particularly large amount of its $2.8 million in Pennsylvania and Michigan. It was more likely to target younger demographics and include messaging on women’s issues and social and cultural issues.
rfranca // Shutterstock
Tim Walz
Oct 29, 2024
– Ad impressions: 100,679,136
– Money spent: $2,865,372
Tim Walz, Harris’ candidate for vice president, has put the largest sums of money toward targeting users in the blue states of California and New York. The page run by the governor of Minnesota was inactive for much of the year until August when he joined the Harris ticket. The page then began posting advertisements with calls to donate to the Harris campaign.
Chip Somodevilla // Getty Images
Kamala HQ
Oct 29, 2024
– Ad impressions: 173,563,600
– Money spent: $4,901,378
Another page run by the Harris campaign, Kamala HQ, has spent nearly $5 million targeting users mostly over the age of 55. The page has mostly been used to push calls to donate to the Harris campaign.
Andrew Harnik // Getty Images
Donald J. Trump
Oct 29, 2024
– Ad impressions: 267,212,022
– Money spent: $5,927,170
The Trump campaign spent the most money targeting ads at states including Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire but also directed some spend at battleground states. Candidates generally spend more in battleground states where they can have the most impact persuading voters that could swing the state’s electoral college delegates in their direction. Spending in Iowa and New Hampshire likely was a result of Trump’s fight with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the primary earlier this year, as both were contending to be the GOP nominee for president.
More than half of Trump’s ads were dubbed “uncivil” by the IDJC, meaning that they contained “unnecessarily disrespectful or rude language that is used to either justifiably or unjustifiably attack another person, group, political figure, policy, or institution.”
Collabstr
Joe Biden
Oct 29, 2024
– Ad impressions: 836,279,587
– Money spent: $26,211,383
Before dropping out, Joe Biden’s official Facebook page is estimated to have spent more than $26 million on targeted ads with Meta. Compared to Trump’s 55% uncivil ad content, Biden’s ads were uncivil just 8% of the time, according to IDJC. Ads from his account focused on the economy, social and cultural issues, and health most heavily.
Jim Watson-Pool // Getty Images
Kamala Harris
Oct 29, 2024
– Ad impressions: 832,423,395
– Money spent: $30,276,685
In contrast to Biden, Harris’ page posted uncivil ads 13% of the time. The page targeted women more than men and half of the ad spending targeted users 55 or older. Women’s issues, like reproductive rights, were just 5% of the messaging in ads, while health, the environment, and the economy made up nearly half of the issues discussed in ads.
Story editing by Alizah Salario. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Tim Bruns.
This story originally appeared on Collabstr and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Collabstr
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