America’s Political Nepo Babies – Part II
Also inside: What Elon tried to do with digital ads in Wisconsin, a right-wing group attempts to thirst-trap people to the polls, and more
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Last week, we discussed how Kai Trump is really leaning into her new role as an influencer. This week, we are taking a look across the aisle at Hope Walz and Ella Emhoff – both kids of high-profile politicians who were largely catapulted into influencer-hood because of their parents’ 2024 campaign but who are obviously in a much different situation than Kai Trump now. But first…
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Digital ad spending, by the numbers:
FWIW, U.S. political advertisers spent about $14.1 million on Facebook and Instagram ads last week. Here were the top ten spenders nationwide:
Political digital ad spending on Facebook and Instagram was concentrated in Wisconsin (to the tune of $1.5 million spent there last week alone) ahead of their state Supreme Court race this past Tuesday. The Democrat-endorsed candidate, Judge Susan Crawford, was victorious despite the fact that Elon Musk’s America PAC spent last week dropping a whopping $316,000+ of Facebook and Instagram ads last week that attacked her as “radical” and told people to “keep the Trump train moving.”
On the other side, the Dem organization Tech for Campaigns dropped $50,907 on Facebook and Instagram ads urging Wisconsinites to vote early. The ads took a very meme-heavy approach, notably including some very current and ~fresh~ memes featuring Parker Posey’s character in this newest season of The White Lotus.
Meanwhile, political advertisers spent just over $4.6 million on Google and YouTube ads last week. These were the top ten spenders nationwide:
The progressive Save My Country Action Fund is running video ads on Google and YouTube featuring a not-new but smart tactic: a nursing assistant who supports Trump (MAGA hat and all) urges people to still call their members of Congress to protect Medicaid. The ads are running nationwide with a focus on NY, CA, and PA.
On X (formerly Twitter), political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $2 million on ads in 2025. According to X’s political ad disclosure, here are the top spenders year to date:
The far-right group Do No Harm, AKA @DoNoHarm, which opposes gender-affirming care for minors and DEI in academia, has spent ~$11,700 on X/Twitter ads this year that ask people to report their universities and local hospitals.
…and lastly, on Snapchat, political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $504,100 on ads in 2025. Here are the top spenders year to date:
What’s trending on YouTube:
We are back with the YouTube top-viewed channels chart in partnership with our friends over at Tubefilter!
Two things caught my eye this week as trending cultural content that has some (perhaps latent) political elements to it: first, Brittikitty is the sole mom blogger who made the top charts last week at a time when that style of content is garnering a fair amount of negative attention, especially from Democrats, but also when some are questioning if opportunities for women influencers are becoming more limited.
Second, the 11th most-viewed channel last week belongs to Jojo Sim, who amassed 142,848,207 views and has 16.6 million followers on the platform. Some of his recent Shorts include him playing random Internet-style games with a seemingly random uniformed cop (it seems like some big YouTubers, in general, like doing stunt content with cops…).
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America’s Political Nepo Babies – Part II
Last week, we discussed how Kai Trump is leaning into her new role as an influencer. This week, we are taking a look across the aisle at Hope Walz and Ella Emhoff – two women who were catapulted into influencer-hood because of their parents’ 2024 campaign, but are obviously in a much different situation than Kai Trump these days.
We’ll start with Hope Walz, who made a big splash on TikTok this past week when she took to the platform to share that she isn’t going to grad school because the university she was accepted to is not standing up for their students' right to protest.
Let’s take a closer look at Hope Walz’s socials. Her bigger account is @hopewalz on TikTok, where she has 437,000+ followers. Her most-liked videos to date on that account in order are:
this video sharing the Walz family caramel corn recipe from December 2024 with 342,000+ likes
this video clapping back at someone who called out her dad from February 2025 with 326,000+ likes
this video mentioned above explaining why she isn’t going to grad school from March 2025 with 225,000+ likes
Over on her @hopewalz Instagram account, she has 63,400+ followers. Her most-liked posts to date from the last 12 months per PathSocial, in order are:
this post with Hope’s message the day after the 2024 election with 71,000+ likes
this general life, very Gen Z photo-dump from January 2025 with 29,000+ likes
this post with presumably her boyfriend from late November 2024 with 15,000+ likes
To give you a sense of the style of the content, here are her three most-liked posts on TikTok:
Now, let’s take a look at Ella Emhoff’s socials – she similarly seems primarily based on Instagram and TikTok. However, she also launched a Substack right before the election back in 2024 called Soft Crafts by Ella Emhoff, showing off her crafting; she is up to 22,000+ subscribers there.
Here’s a more in-depth breakdown of Ella Emhoff’s socials. Interestingly, Ella has a bigger following on Instagram than TikTok, whereas the reverse is true for Hope. Over on TikTok, where she’s @smellaemhoff, she has 37,300+ followers. Her most-liked posts to date in order are:
this video of her making a crochet basket from August 2024 with 17,100+ likes
this GRWM video from March 2025 with 10,600+ likes
this video of her embroidering from July 2024 with 10,400+ likes
Looking over at her Instagram account @ellaemhoff, she has 505,000+ followers – and, for context, it’s probably worth noting that Ella is also an active model, which is clear on her IG. Her most-liked posts to date from the last 12 months per PathSocial, in order are:
this post of her attending the Lacoste fashion show from March 2025 with 11,300+ likes
this post of her leading a stretching tutorial from March 2025 with 8,000+ likes
this post sharing her Nuuly collab from March 2025 with 6,000+ likes
And to comparably give you a sense of her ~online vibe~, here are her three most-liked posts on TikTok:
Looking at all of this, there are two things that particularly stand out to me. The first is that Hope and Ella have embraced pretty different paths despite their somewhat shared circumstances: Hope has continued to talk about politics and current events, whereas Ella has pivoted her socials to more lifestyle content and is focusing on her other pursuits.
The second is that for both of them, most of their most popular posts came after the 2024 election when their parents were no longer technically under the national spotlight. This indicates that kids who become influencers largely because of their political parents can stay popular, or even potentially become more popular, no matter what happens electorally to their parents.
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More from around the internet:
UFC just struck a major sponsorship deal with Meta, bringing MAGA-adjacent bros Zuck and Dana White even closer together.
With the TikTok ban looming once again and buyers circling the White House, Mark Cuban is apparently taking a different path and backing a TikTok alternative called Skylight. (I just downloaded it – will share my thoughts!)
Apparently, a right-wing group tried to use P2P thirst traps – including an unauthorized photo of popular model Emily Ratajkowski, who has openly supported Bernie Sanders – to get voters to the polls in Wisconsin this past week.
It might be time to dust off that old Tumblr account – Gen Z seems to think it might be the place to be these days.
Chat, is this new emoji from Apple a recession indicator?
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