Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is launching an early voting push targeting students on battleground state college campuses. The effort consists of concerts, block parties and tailgates in addition to a new seven-figure targeted ad buy focused primarily on reaching students through social media platforms.
The ad buy will geographically target students in battleground states across platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube Shorts. Some of the ads, according to the campaign, are designed to mirror popular social media trends.
The “Vote for Our Future” tour will put the campaign’s principals alongside high-profile surrogates working to mobilize young voters across the battlegrounds, not just engaging the students but also encouraging them to register to vote and vote early.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., helped formally launch the tour with an event at Penn State on Friday. On Tuesday, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Maya Harris, the vice president’s sister, headlined an early vote mobilization event in Durham, North Carolina.
On Wednesday, Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., will speak at a get-out-the-vote rally at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, while former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas will speak with students across two college campuses in Arizona. And Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will speak at a concert and mobilization event at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, on Thursday.
In addition to the digital ad blitz, the campaign will work to further reach students through flyers, as well as posters placed on campus kiosks and on-campus transit systems at 76 college campuses.