As the Democratic National Convention kicks off Monday in Chicago, the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris has created a bilingual WhatsApp channel targeting Latino voters.
The campaign says it’s the first-of-its-kind in a presidential campaign has created a channel to specifically engage with Latinos, half of whom report using the popular messaging app.
It officially launched early Monday with a selfie-style video message from Julie Chavez Rodríguez, manager of the Harris campaign, welcoming new followers to the channel.
Chavez Rodríguez said the channel is a place where users a “can go to get behind-the-scenes” information about the campaign and what it’s doing to help Latino families.
The channel is operated by members of the “Latinos con Harris-Walz” organizing program, according to a news release from the Harris campaign. They will be tasked with creating and posting “culturally competent content that reflects the Latino community that already exists on the platform.”
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The channel was launched with a bilingual video from campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez and will feature other Latino messengers with the campaign. Content will include daily voice memos, videos and notes from surrogates highlighting the campaign’s efforts and aiming to combat misinformation, officials said.
“While Donald Trump vilifies our community at every turn and uses us as a political punching bag, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know the power of our community and are fighting everyday on the issues that matter to Latino voters,” Maca Casado, the campaign’s Hispanic media director, said in a statement. “Now more than ever, we must meet Latinos where they are, and creative programs like this WhatsApp channel are how this campaign will reach the voters who will decide this election and win in November.”
The channel is the latest effort by the Harris campaign to reach voters through what they have described as a fragmented media environment. The campaign has also used TikTok, social media influencers and other methods to try to connect with voters.
A poll conducted from July 22 to Aug. 4 by Democratic polling firm Equis Research found Harris leading Trump by 19 percentage points among Latino voters in the seven battleground states likely to decide November’s election.
Harris’s 56 percent support in those states would be down slightly from President Biden’s national margin in 2020, when he won 65 percent of Latino voters, according to exit polls.
Harris campaign officials see the new WhatsApp channel as “another tool” to combat election misinformation aimed at Latinos voters, specially among those living in consequential battleground states.
