Among all the memes, “brat”, and “coconut tree” references, Vice President Kamala Harris has officially joined TikTok.
The Democratic presidential candidate made her debut on the app Thursday night through her @kamalaharris account, with a post that has received nearly 11 million views by midday Friday.
“Madam vice president, are you on TikTok?” a voice asks in her first video.
“Well, I’ve heard that recently I’ve been on the For You Page, so I thought I would get on here myself,” Harris says in the video, confirming her new status as a TikToker.
The For You page is TikTok’s explore page where users see content posted to the app that may be of interest to them. Since announcing her run for the White House, the app has seen an influx of content featuring the vice president.
Thought it was about time to join!
“Thought it was about time I join!” the vice president captioned her post.
Harris’ TikTok account is her latest move to capture the attention of a broader base of audiences, particularly Generation Z.
A recent Marist/NPR/PBS News poll found that Harris has a 47% to 4% lead over her competitor, former President Donald Trump, among Gen Z and millennial voters.
Eligible voters under the age of 25 are historically among those with the lowest voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections, according to Statista. But an influx of Harris memes and posts swirling around social media suggest the vice president is resonating with younger voters.
Social media users may have seen Harris’s name associated with the Gen Z term “brat” – a trending topic Harris has welcomed with open arms. The brat movement on social media and its connection to the vice president likely fueled the move for Harris to get on TikTok quickly.
It all started with Charli XCX, the British musician behind the brat renaissance, which kicked off with the June release of her sixth studio album, “Brat.”
According to a TikTok video Charli posted on July 1, a “brat” is “that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes,” “who feels herself but then also maybe has a breakdown but kinda, like, parties through it, is very honest, is very blunt, a little bit volatile. Does dumb things, but it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.”
When Chari herself posted on X that “Kamala is brat,” the vice president’s “Kamala HQ” X account transformed its header in a way to indicate Harris was embracing her role as a member of the brat community.
Harris has also gained quite the social media attention with help from “coconut tree” memes that spread like wildfire on the internet.
Those stem from a video circulating of a 2023 speech by Harris when she recounted one of her mother’s sayings: “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”
By day two of Harris’ journey as a TikToker, she had three videos posted to her account.
The second is a montage of clips from Harris on the set of popular drag show “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which is also solidifying her solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
“It was a pleasure to visit Rupaul’s Drag Race’s werk room,” Harris captioned the TikTok video.
@kamalaharris
It was a pleasure to visit @RuPaul’s Drag Race
♬ original sound – Runway Relapse
Harris will be a guest star on the show’s “All Stars 9” finale airing Friday.
Perhaps most notably, the latest video posted to Harris’ page Friday afternoon is of a call between her, former President Barack Obama, and former First Lady Michelle Obama, which includes the Obamas’ official endorsement of Harris for president.
Harris had already gained nearly 2 million followers as of Friday.
Trump joined TikTok in early June, amassing more than 9 million followers.
