WASHINGTON (AP) — When Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and Kamala Harris stepped in, a cascade of Zoom meetings with hundreds of thousands of participants appeared seemingly out of nowhere and helped her win the Democratic nomination.
Now organizers are trying to channel that digital enthusiasm into classic voter initiatives like phone banking and door knocking. They have created a loose constellation of volunteer networks that operate independently of the Harris campaign, all designed to mobilize local or online communities behind the vice president.
People are sending postcards, texting friends, polling contested states, making friendship bracelets with campaign messages and sometimes surprising themselves by getting involved in ways they’ve never done before.
The question is whether or not the Zoom meetings that garnered so much attention over the summer — for black women, black men, white women, white guys, cat ladies, Taylor Swift fans and more — will prove to be a short-lived phenomenon This is a mighty catalyst for Harris to beat Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“I think these groups will help us win,” said Jaime Lopez, the Harris campaign’s director of digital coalitions. “They help us mobilize and engage people in ways we have never seen before, and they are crucial to our path to victory.”
Zooms attracted some volunteers for the first time
Mary Catherine Tipton, 33, joined a Zoom call organized for white women and was swept up in the excitement of Harris’ surprise candidacy. There were 164,000 attendees, an experience the Maryland resident described as “inspirational.”
“We have this privilege,” she recalled. “We have this chance.”
Tipton, a former teacher in Nashville, thought about her students who had undocumented family members. After Trump defeated Hillary Clinton eight years ago, they asked her, “Will my parents be home when I get home?”
Tipton was shocked by the outcome of that election—“How could this happen and I had no idea?”—and she didn’t want to feel that way again.
“I’m going to do something scary,” Tipton decided. “This is out of my comfort zone, but this is what we need.”
She started by messaging her bridesmaids about the choice. 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 to people like Tipton first volunteering began on July 21, the day Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris. It happened to be a Sunday when consultant and investor Jotaka Eaddy was hosting regular Zoom meetings as part of her organization, Win With Black Women.
The calls began four years ago to support black politicians like Harris and typically numbered in the hundreds. When Harris became the nominee, everyone wanted in.
There were so many people that Eaddy had trouble logging into her own meeting. When it was full, she said a member of the group began evaluating his contacts on Zoom to get the company to open up additional capacity. Ultimately, 44,000 people were online and even more were watching on other streaming platforms.
There was a pep talk, a bonfire and a fundraising appeal. The people prayed and sang. Comments came so quickly that they flickered on the screen – rows of hearts, “Amen”, “Let’s go!” Star Jones shared a donation link and announced towards the end of the call that they had raised more than $1 million .
The event showed ardent 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.
The next day, another Zoom with black men took place and 54,000 participants showed up and raised $1.4 million.
The following day, gun control activist Shannon Watts woke up before sunrise and began thinking about organizing a rally for white women. “Who’s in?” she posted on social media that morning.
“And then I just started getting calls from people,” Watts said.
Two days later, more than 164,000 people signed up. When it was over, the progressive advocacy group Indivisible began reaching out to participants to get them more involved, hosting regular Zooms called “Women Wednesdays for Harris.”
Leah Greenberg, co-founder of Indivisible, said the virtual meetings were a starting point for people who might not have otherwise participated in the campaign.
“We want to try to keep them engaged,” she said. “We want to make sure they don’t just go to a Zoom.”
Harris supporters have found community through Zooms
Rachel Roberts is one of the people 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 Wednesdays, she meets 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 are thrilled,” she said. “It keeps the momentum going.”
Sometimes they write postcards or exploit an app to find voters to contact. Supporters made homemade buttons and beaded bracelets.
“It’s all about inches right now,” said Roberts, 50, who works for an educational nonprofit.
Some affinity groups are aimed at different communities, such as Taylor Swift fans. They organized “Swifties 4 Kamala” and sent out a regular newsletter called “Paint the Town Blue,” a reference to one of their songs.
“Time is running out, so we must speak now,” the newsletter said last month. The group said members made more than 370,000 calls and sent 5.5 million text messages about the election.
Annie Wu Henry, a digital strategist who leads the organization, said these efforts are a more effective way to reach voters at a time when many people have ignored politics.
Traditional public relations, she said, can feel “much more transactional.”
“Something is being created here that will hopefully last for a long time,” said Henry.
The Harris campaign has embraced the Zoom groups
The unofficial Zooms caused some ridicule over the summer. But Harris’ team recognized her as a potential powerhouse and began communicating with leaders to keep them updated on volunteer opportunities and campaign developments.
Oprah Winfrey brought many of the groups together for an event with Harris near Detroit on Sept. 19.
“I can’t tell you what it means to me,” Harris told organizers backstage. “Our campaign is all about fighting forces that seek to divide us.”
She added: “They show that this is what people want.”
Eaddy said this moment “gives me hope for our country and the future.”
The Swifties even gave her some beaded friendship bracelets with her name on them, “Unite for America” and “Win With Black Women.” She wears at least one of them every day.
“This is very real,” Eaddy said. “It’s extremely powerful.”
