The DNC was taken over by the influentials
What Happened During Democratic National Convention Week? Dhruv Mehrotra, Senior Security Officer, and Wired Politics Editor, Ms. Kelly & WIRED
It’s Democratic National Convention Week! For all the politicians, delegates, journalists, and influencers in Chicago this week, that means days of nonstop events, speeches, parties, and networking.
I’ve been on the ground covering it with my colleague, senior security writer Dhruv Mehrotra (More from Dhruv below). Some of the events have been expected: Barack Obama’s speech, organizing seminars, and caucus meetings. But others feel more like Vidcon events than political ones, like the highly-anticipated Hotties for Harris after-party on Tuesday night.
It’s not your average politics newsletter. Makena Kelly and the WIRED Politics team help you make sense of how the internet is shaping our political reality.
After Barack Obama finished his prime-time DNC address Tuesday night, influencers and content creators streamed their way into what was expected to be one of the week’s largest convention after-parties.
The bright lights that read “Hotties for Harris” greeted guests and made them feel like they were at the Museum of Ice Cream, but for liberals living out their 2008 fantasy with a 2024 twist. There was an arcade room featuring “abortion access”, a wall of “HOTTIES” that include “Kamala Harris andTravis Kelce,” a couch that took a jab at JD Vance, a “wall of “weirdos” with portraits of Republican leaders, and a wall of
For hours, creators danced and mingled in front of a stage flashing the faces of Harris and Tim Walz with Charli XCX and Taylor Swift songs ringing out from the DJ booth. There were also two signature cocktails called the “Madam President’s Spicy ‘Rita” and “A Walz on the Beach,” for “folks who can’t handle the spice.”
The daughter of a Donald Trump adviser tried to grab a plushie in a claw game while the others filmed themselves breakdancing in the arcade. Some of the older creators, like Pearlmania500, spent a lot of time outside the venue chatting up people they’ve met this week.
“This wouldn’t have happened with Joe Biden as the nominee,” Emma Mont, an admin of the OrganizerMemes X account, said about the palpable excitement at the Hotties for Harris party.
The night was hosted by a handful of creators and funded by Investing in US, an investment firm funded by LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, with the goal of encouraging difficult-to-reach audiences and young people to vote.
Joe Biden The event will finish tonight with the signing of the agreement by Kamala Harris. But unlike in conventions past, every night has also featured influencers. People like content creator and abortion rights activists, Deja Foxx.
She is named Leah Feiger. This is a show about tech in politics. I’m Leah Feiger, the senior politics editor at WIRED. The Democratic National Convention is coming to an end today on the show. Democrats were excited about the new candidate, and they had Biden, Clinton and Obama with them.
Makena Kelly and WIRED: The DNC is officially the ‘influencer convention‘ by Laura Feiger (@leahfeiger)
Makena Kelly: Yeah, so I was out until 2:00 AM last night. The last thing on my schedule was from 10:00 to 2:00 AM and it was a party called Hotties for Harris, and it was thrown, it wasn’t-
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The DNC is officially the “influencer convention” by Makena Kelly, as noted this week.
There is a person named “Leah Feiger”. Makena Kelly is @kellymakena. Write to us at WIRED.com. You can get the WIRED Politics Lab newsletter here.