WASHINGTON (AP) — An evening rally to boost Democratic turnout for Texas’ rapidly approaching primary featured plenty of the state party’s political star power, but it was someone who won’t be on a ballot who drew the most attention.
Carlos Eduardo Espina, a progressive political influencer who boasts more than 14 million followers on TikTok, mingled with lawmakers and took selfies with attendees who eagerly posted them online.
The Tuesday night gathering at a Houston Mexican restaurant was more than just a pre-primary rally. It also was a curtain-raiser of sorts for a campaign strategy Democrats hope will help them in this year’s midterms and beyond.
Espina and nine other Houston influencers invited to the event are at the center of that strategy, which seeks to build a network of online content creators to better engage Latino voters after many of them gravitated toward Republicans two years ago.
Espina, who has promoted Democratic candidates and policies in the past, said the party finally appeared to be acknowledging that it needed to catch up with Republicans and find ways to connect with voters outside of traditional campaign events.
“I do think there’s a lot of failures in the past Democratic Party, but I think initiatives like this one are pretty cool,” Espina said in an interview.
A local strategy to address a national messaging gap
The strategy, developed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ political arm, is being rolled out in the Houston area as early voting begins for Texas’ statewide primary on March 3. The idea is to capitalize on the popularity of local influencers and social media superstars such as Espina to more effectively spread Democrats’ messaging to Latino voters.
Strategists hope to expand the effort, called “ RUIDO ” — Spanish for noise — which consists of a network of online content creators, into other competitive primary and general election races where Latino candidates and voters could prove decisive. However, leaders of the Hispanic Caucus PAC have yet to decide when or where to invest next.
“The Trump campaign reached out to those nontraditional voices to amplify their message,” Rep. Linda Sanchez, a California Democrat and chair of the caucus’ political action committee, said of the Republican’s engagement with social media influencers and podcasters two years ago. “We didn’t anticipate that was going to be a way by which politics was disseminated. We’ve seen the contrary, that we do need to be in those spaces, as well.”
The program’s launch comes as Democrats continue to grapple with broad dissatisfaction with the party and questions about how to effectively engage voters, particularly younger ones, voters of color and those without college degrees who shifted away from the party during the 2024 presidential election.
President Donald Trump made inroads with Latino voters that year with a strategy that heavily leaned on engaging streamers, podcasters and other online content creators.
The 2024 election was a ‘wake-up call’
The Hispanic Caucus strategy offers stipends to content creators who are accepted into the program. The money is meant to support travel expenses for them to work with political campaigns, according to program materials.
In past elections, both major parties bought sponsored content from influencers, who are then required to disclose the relationship. Espina said the money offered to him was a fraction of what he makes on his frequent videos, which on average garner hundreds of thousands of views, but said that it might have a greater impact for influencers with smaller audiences.
Espina, who posts videos in Spanish about politics that regularly garner hundreds of thousands of likes, said lawmakers ultimately would need to make the case for their elections themselves. But authenticity and the substance of the message are paramount to winning over voters online, he said.
The party shifted from talking about issues affecting “working class people” and instead started discussing economic and cultural issues in ways that felt alien to how people lived their lives, Espina said.
“I think a lot of that messaging a few years back kind of got lost. But now I think, especially after the wake-up call from the 2024 election, things have definitely gotten better,” he said.
Influencers’ political moment has arrived
The nine Houston-area content creators recruited by the caucus — Republicans have their own Hispanic congressional group — range from political influencers to content creators discussing food, travel, sports and local attractions. Their online followings range from a few thousand to around 100,000.
“People are going to act more when they hear from a family member, when they hear from a friend,” said Carlos Castillo, one of the influencers who joined the network. “Just talking to people in an organic way, whether it’s through get-ready-with-me videos and just slightly mentioning, ‘Oh, also, by the way, the primaries are coming up in our state.’”
Castillo said the stipend from the program was comparable to what he was offered in commissions from companies such as Comcast, United Airlines and FIFA Houston.
It is unclear if the strategy of recruiting local influencers in areas with competitive races will be effective for Democrats. But both major parties have realized in recent election cycles that they need to supplement their traditional campaign methods to reach voters who don’t typically engage in politics.
That is likely to boost the power of content creators such as Espina.
“Honestly, that I have more influence, at least right now, as a social media content creator, than I would in any kind of elected office, at least any that I can run for,” said Espina on whether he’d ever run for office himself.
“Who knows, maybe I’ll run against Ted Cruz in a few years,” he added, referring to the Republican senator from Texas. “That would be pretty fun.”
Matt Brown, The Associated Press
