CHICAGO – For anyone under 30, the hottest ticket to snag after Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention was for the “Hotties for Harris” afterparty, where drag queens danced in front of superimposed spinning Tim Walz cut-outs and coconut tree graphics.
“I am not kidding when I say this is the best political party I’ve ever been to,” David Hogg, the co-creator of "March for our Lives," said. “This is where Gen Z is.”
The event, billed as a content creator party, focused its messaging on reproductive rights to young voters with raunchy decorations and free contraception. Inside the venue, partygoers were greeted by a “Hall of Hotties” wall, lit in the same lime-green shade of popstar Charli XCX’s “brat” album, and featuring photos of everyone from former President Barack Obama to former Philadelphia Eagles Center Jason Kelce.
Organizers also poked fun at the Republican Party, former President Donald Trump and vice presidential nominee JD Vance by designating a “Wall of Weirdos” with portraits of the pair and other Republican officials, a nod to Gov. Tim Walz’s statement that “these guys are weird as hell.”
A sign marked one couch “property of JD Vance,” in reference to a false rumor that Vance's best-selling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" included a passage recounting that he'd had sex with a latex glove shoved between two couch cushions.
Sign-up for Your Vote: Text with the USA TODAY elections team.
Upon entering the space, attendees snagged “Hotties for Harris” bucket hats, tank tops, shirts, posters and other merch to bring home and an assortment of “F*ck Project 2025” condoms.
More than 2,000 guests signed up for a spot on the list, according to event co-host Liz Plank.
Harris’ campaign has captured the loyalty of significant cohorts of voters from underrepresented and marginalized backgrounds thanks to the vice president’s decades-long support of LGBTQ+ rights, advocacy for access to abortion and for her identity as a Black and South Asian woman.
And the Harris campaign has leaned into celebrity and Gen-Z pop culture on social media — posting edits of Harris to popstar Chappell Roan’s hit song “Femininomenon” on TikTok and making orange-font “Harris Walz” camouflage hats inspired by Roan’s merchandise. It even rebranded its Twitter to “Kamala hq” with a "brat"-inspired banner image and bio that reads “providing context” following internet pandemonium over Charli XCX proclaiming Kamala as “brat” in a tweet.
More:What to know about Kamala Harris, coconut trees and 'Brat Summer'
Plank called Tuesday's event a culmination of old-school political organizing and modern use of social media messaging.
“So much of the excitement around Kamala Harris has been the meme-ification of it, it's been these Zooms and these digital forms of organizing, which is amazing and very modern,” Plank said. ""But the old-school getting together and celebrating and talking to each other is really valuable in politics and valuable for community building."
In the room full of self-proclaimed “Democratic party girls,” Claudia Conway, daughter of George and Kellyanne Conway, stood surrounded by a chatty group of fellow content creators.
The 19-year-old told the Journal Sentinel that she came to the party to be surrounded by like-minded enthusiastic young people. “I mean, this is a cultural phenomenon, like, we're living in such a historic time, and everyone's so excited,” Conway said.
Hours before the party, Conway conducted an Instagram Live with her politically divided parents todiscuss the election and whether the ideals of the Republican were “a cult of personality” or reflective of a modern and inclusive party. The video was a small glimpse into her jam-packed week as a DNC-enlisted content creator.
Asked why she wanted to get involved in content creation for the Democratic Party, Conway said she thinks young people need to get out and vote and find a community to spread that message to.
“No matter where you came from, what your background is, who you are, you have the ability to educate yourself and form your opinion. You don't have to listen to anybody,” she said.
Conway was among the event’s many celebrity attendees including Florida Congressman Max Frost; Adam Faze, film producer and ex-boyfriend of Olivia Rodrigo; radio and youtube host Zach Sang; and dozens of other TikTok creators.
Mattie Westbrouk, a TikTok creator with 11.4 million followers, listed a number of reasons why they planned to support and promote the Harris-Walz campaign in November.
“I have a girlfriend that I would really like to marry one day, and I have a sister who I believe has the right to choose to do whatever she wants with her body,” Wesbrouck said. “I have a mom who's a teacher, who I pray every morning thatan individual or a child who has access to an automatic weapon does not take her life with a semi-automatic weapon. That's why I'm here.”
Hogg called the marketing of Tuesday's event “brilliant.”
Bartenders served up drinks in “Hotties for Harris” branded coconuts and the DJ remixed Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and songs off the “brat” album. At least 100 partygoers were still on the dance floor when the event ended at 2 a.m.
“This is where real political power lies,” Hogg said. “It's not in politics. It's actually in culture, because when culture changes, politics change."
Tamia Fowlkes is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her attfowlkes@gannett.com.
