Those early Zoom meetings got people excited about Harris. Now they’re trying to get them to vote

WASHINGTON — When Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race and Kamala Harris joined, a cascade of Zoom meetings with hundreds of thousands of participants appeared seemingly out of nowhere and helped propel her to the Democratic nomination.

Now, organizers are trying to translate that surge of digital enthusiasm into traditional get-out-the-vote efforts, like phone banking and door-to-door canvassing. They created a constellation of volunteer networks operating independently of the Harris campaign, all intended to rally local or online communities behind the vice president.

People send postcards, text their friends, travel to battleground states, make friendship bracelets with campaign messages, and sometimes surprise themselves by getting involved in ways they didn’t. have never done before.

The question is whether the Zoom meetings that attracted so much attention over the summer — for black women, black men, white women, white guys, cat ladies, Taylor Swift fans and more so – will turn out to be a short-lived phenomenon or a short-lived phenomenon. powerful catalyst for Harris to defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump.

“I think these groups are going to help us win,” said Jaime Lopez, director of digital coalitions for the Harris campaign. “They help us mobilize and engage people in a way we’ve never seen before, and they are crucial to our path to victory.

Zooms attracted volunteers for the first time

Mary Catherine Tipton, 33, joined a Zoom call organized for white women, swept up in the enthusiasm over Harris’ surprise candidacy. There were 164,000 participants, an experience the Maryland resident called “inspiring.”

“We have this privilege,” she remembers. “We have this opportunity.”

A former teacher in Nashville, Tipton thought about her students whose family members were undocumented. After Trump beat Hillary Clinton eight years ago, they asked him, “Will my parents be home when I get home?”

Tipton was shocked by the outcome of this election: “How could this happen and I had no idea?” – and she didn’t want to feel that way anymore.

“I’m going to do something scary,” Tipton decided. “It’s out of my comfort zone, but it’s what we need.”

She started by sending messages to her bridesmaids about the election. Now the group text has expanded to include sisters and other friends. Sometimes they write letters to undecided voters.

Then, on a recent Sunday, she was in York, Pennsylvania, wearing a campaign shirt and holding a clipboard as she went door to door talking to residents. Only a few people responded.

“If my work moves the needle even a little bit, I’ll be happy,” Tipton said.

A Zoom for Black Women lit the spark

The chain reaction that led people like Tipton to first volunteer began on July 21, the day Biden dropped out of the race and supported Harris. It was a Sunday, when consultant and investor Jotaka Eaddy was hosting regular Zoom meetings through her organization Win With Black Women.

The calls began four years ago to support black female politicians like Harris, and there were usually hundreds of participants. When Harris became a candidate, everyone wanted to get on board.

There were so many people that Eaddy had trouble connecting to his own meeting. When it filled up, she said one member of the group began working with her contacts at Zoom to get the company to unlock additional capacity. Ultimately, there were 44,000 people online and more on other streaming platforms.

It was a pep talk, a campfire, and a telethon. People were praying and singing. The comments were coming so quickly that they were flashing on the screen: rows of hearts, “amen”, “here we go!” » Star Jones shared a donation link and announced near the end of the call that they had raised over $1 million.

The event highlighted the fervent support for the vice president at a time when some party leaders were still debating whether to hold a snap primary to choose a replacement for Biden.

“The only conversation we wanted to have was Kamala Harris,” Eaddy said.

Another Zoom was held the next day with black men, and 54,000 participants showed up and raised $1.4 million.

The next day, gun control activist Shannon Watts woke up before sunrise and began thinking about organizing an appeal for white women. “Who’s up for it?” » she posted on social media that morning.

“And then I started getting calls from people,” Watts said.

More than 164,000 people logged in two days later. After the event ended, progressive advocacy group Indivisible began reaching out to attendees to get them more involved and holding regular Zooms called Women Wednesdays for Harris.

Leah Greenberg, co-founder of Indivisible, said the virtual meetings have been a starting point for people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to participate in the campaign.

“We want to try to keep them engaged,” she said. “We want to make sure they’re not just using one Zoom.”

Harris supporters found community through Zooms

Rachel Roberts is one of those who took this to heart. She described the white women’s Zoom as a “wake-up call” to stop Trump from returning to the White House, and she was so excited that she donated twice during the meeting.

Roberts had been involved in politics before — she remembers helping out in a Democratic campaign office as an elementary school student in 1984 — but never as much as this year.

On Wednesday, she gathers with other Harris supporters at her local Democratic Party office in Benzie County, Michigan, where they drink wine and cheese and watch the Zoom meeting together.

“We laugh, we cry, we get excited,” she says. “It keeps the momentum going.”

Sometimes they write postcards or use an app to locate voters to contact. Supporters made homemade buttons and beaded bracelets.

“It’s a game of thumbs right now,” said Roberts, 50, who works for an education nonprofit.

Some affinity groups cater to different communities, like Taylor Swift fans. They organized “Swifties 4 Kamala” and regularly send out a newsletter called “Paint the Town Blue,” a reference to one of her songs.

“Time is running out, so we must speak now,” the newsletter said last month. The group said members made more than 370,000 phone calls and sent 5.5 million text messages about the election.

Annie Wu Henry, a digital strategist who helps run the organization, said these efforts are a more effective way to reach voters at a time when many people are losing interest in politics.

Traditional outreach, she said, can seem “much more transactional.”

“It’s building something that will hopefully last a long time after this,” Henry said.

The Harris campaign embraced Zoom groups

Unofficial Zooms sparked some mockery over the summer. But Harris’ team recognized them as a potential force and began communicating with leaders to keep them informed about volunteer opportunities and progress on the campaign.

Oprah Winfrey brought together many groups for an event with Harris near Detroit on September 19.

“I can’t tell you what this means to me,” Harris told organizers backstage. “There are so many things in our campaign that are really about fighting the forces that are trying to divide us.”

She added: “You’re showing that this is what people want. »

Eaddy said this moment “gives me hope for our country and the future.”

Swifties even gave her beaded friendship bracelets with her name “Unite for America” and “Win ​​With Black Women.” She wears at least one every day.

“It’s very real,” Eaddy said. “It’s extremely powerful.”