A Walz to remember
How the internet reacted to Kamala Harris’ selection of Tim Walz
OK… apologies for the subject line.
This was (yet another) big week in American politics, with Vice President Harris selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate on Tuesday.
Here’s what struck me about the news: Walz was a pick born out of a viral moment, who wasn’t under serious consideration until several exceptional media appearances that went viral online catapulted him onto the Harris campaign’s radar. Earlier this week, AXIOS chronicled this “Weird”-to-VP pipeline.”
Before his selection, Walz also seemed to be exciting some of the right people at the right time. Because of his record of progressive accomplishments in Minnesota, he was the clear choice of many outspoken online activists, who had spent months less than enthused about Joe Biden’s candidacy. More importantly, he also was reportedly the favorite of Nancy Pelosi, who has been quietly wielding influence during this unprecedented period for her party.
Regardless of how we got here, Walz’s introduction was well received by Democrats online and off. The campaign unveiled a new logo and website refresh. As expected, the campaign published a few pieces of cutesy content featuring Walz receiving the phone call from Harris and even one of his wife Gwen receiving a phone call from Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Following the initial announcement, the Walz family flew to Philadelphia for a kickoff rally with Harris, and thousands of excited Democrats were in attendance. Moments from Walz’s speech were quickly chopped up and distributed across social media, which received millions upon millions of views - including this one in which he took on JD Vance directly.
FWIW, the Harris campaign even took to Truth Social to brag about their crowd size. 😂
The Walz selection also set off another grassroots fundraising tidal wave for Democrats, just as their last money bomb began to fade. According to Harris’ Deputy Campaign Manager Rob Flaherty, they raised $36 million from 450,000 in the first 24 hours following the announcement, more than ⅓ of whom were first-time donors.
Maybe the most viral piece of fundraising content this week were these HARRIS WALZ camouflage hats (that emulates similar merch from pop superstar Chappell Roan) that the campaign quickly began selling on Tuesday.
Apparently, they sold out within a few hours, found some more, and sold out again. Taylor Lorenz at the Washington Post reported that within 24 hrs, they had sold $1 million of these hats, with many thousands on back-order until October.
Across social media a few prominent clips of Walz went viral. We shared many of those moments on TikTok in yesterday’s FYP newsletter. Beyond just TikTok, however, the Walz announcement received lots of positive attention.
According to a new analysis from CAP Action, excitement about the Walz news far outpaced that of the Trump campaign’s announcement of JD Vance. Top progressive pages generated 28 million engagements on posts related to Walz between Tuesday and Wednesday — more than three times the 8.1 million engagements that posts related to Vance received from top conservative pages during the two days after his announcement.
In terms of general “vibes,” the Walz announcement extended the three week “honeymoon period” of positive press, posts, and excitement that the Harris campaign has been riding. With only 12-ish weeks until Election Day, both campaigns will be eager to keep up this kind of momentum online and off.
Digital ad spending, by the numbers:
FWIW, political advertisers spent just over $21.6 million on Facebook and Instagram ads last week. These were the top ten spenders nationwide:
Democratic super PAC American Bridge is running new video ads featuring veterans and former Trump supporters speaking about why they could never vote for Donald Trump. These ads are targeting the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
Meanwhile, political campaigns spent $17.5 million on Google and YouTube ads last week. Here were the top ten spenders nationwide:
Right-wing Preserve America PAC spent a huge amount of money last week - around $500,000 - on a new wave of video ads attacking VP Harris’s record on immigration and the border. The ads ran nationwide but were specifically targeted at Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Pour one out for your friends in the battleground states, they may see a lot of these in the weeks to come.
On X (formerly Twitter), political advertisers in the U.S. have spent $7.7 million on ads year to date. Here are the top spenders:
…and lastly, on Snapchat, political advertisers in the U.S. have spent $4.2 million on ads year to date. Here are the top spenders:
Future Forward USA, the pro-Harris (formerly pro-Biden) super PAC, has zoomed up to the #2 top spenders spot for Snapchat political ads in 2024 over the course of the last few weeks. Like the campaign, they are leaning into pop culture.
Your 2024 digital dispatch
FWIW, here’s how weekly digital ad spending (Facebook/Instagram, Google/YouTube) compares between the Trump and Harris (formerly Biden) campaigns year-to-date:
The Harris campaign again spent an enormous amount of money on digital ads last week – over $13.5 million on Meta and Google platforms alone. By contrast, the Trump campaign spent just over $1.6 million – a fraction of Team Harris’s spend.
The primary super PACs supporting each ticket are fully in on the digital spending action as well, with Future Forward (pro-Harris) spending $452,181 this past week and Make American Great Again Inc. (pro-Trump) spending $612,600.
What’s happening on TikTok?
Similarly to other social platforms, TikTok is full of positive introductory content about everyone’s Midwestern Dad and VP Harris’s running mate, Gov. Tim Walz. This momentum isn’t exclusively surrounding Walz, however: posts mentioning Kamala Harris on the platform last week remained overwhelmingly positive.
See unique data and analysis on the online battle for TikTok at our new newsletter, #FYP.
More from around the internet:
Speaking of TikTok, Kyle spoke to Drew Harwell at the Washington Post about the Trump campaign’s TikTok strategy and the general vibe shift on the viral video app.
Next Wednesday, Meta’s CrowdTangle social analytics tool will finally shut down. The company killed the product partly because its comms team did not like reporters and academics using it to surface viral misinformation and generally nasty things that were spreading like wildfire on Facebook. We have used CrowdTangle over the years to monitor misinformation and measure post-virality, and it's truly a shame to see it go.
Gen Z streamer Adin Ross did an interview with Donald Trump at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, which was watched by 500,000+ viewers. Ross apparently also gifted Trump a Rolex and a cybertruck during the interview…
Former X/Twitter employees are coming forward to warn about how Elon Musk is using the platform as his own partisan tool in 2024.
That’s it for FWIW this week. This email was sent to 22,857 readers. If you enjoy reading this newsletter each week, would you mind sharing it on Twitter or Threads? Have a tip, idea, or feedback? Reply directly to this email.
Too much style over substance in the coverage of the Walz selection.
Why did the radical leftist prefer him?
How much of the Twin Cities did BLM burn down under his watch?
When they finally started arresting BLM rioters, how much money did Harris raise for their bail?