How memes could tip the 2024 election in Harris’ favor

Democrats have been struggling for years to replicate the meme magic that was Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. The hope-filled Obama years still resonate with a generation of Democratic communicators who yearn for the days when Shepard Fairey’s “Hope” poster ignited a cultural moment and positioned the young and cool Obama as a breath of fresh air against Republicans’ aging Sen. John McCain. 

After years of tryhard flops including Hillary Clinton’s cringeworthy “Pokemon GO to the polls” and President Joe Biden’s overexposed “Dark Brandon” moment, Kamala Harris is emerging as a force no Washington consultant could ever hope to cook up: an honest-to-goodness meme candidate. Whether she’s holding vinyl records, falling out of a coconut tree, or harnessing the cultural cachet of pop star Charli XCX’s brat summer, Harris’ viral candidacy is packing arenas and raising hundreds of millions of dollars. 

It may also be the one force powerful enough to keep Donald Trump out of the White House.