In the lead-up to the debate, the campaign engaged in a town hall on TikTok Live featuring a group of content creators. Tiffany Cianci, a TikTok influencer with 160,000 followers who has spearheaded several town hall events with third-party candidates, notes a surge in interest in having Kennedy participate in these town halls, especially post-debate.
Cianci reveals, “Following Kennedy’s last town hall, I received over three dozen requests from creators with over 1 million followers eager to participate in his next town hall. Since the debate, those numbers have skyrocketed, indicating a growing audience’s desire for his presence.”
Although the Biden campaign declined to do a TikTok town hall, the Trump campaign remains uncertain. Cianci sees an opportunity in the gap, stating, “There’s a void being created, and I believe this could be filled by Kennedy. Bobby is definitely drawing attention.”
Comparing Kennedy’s town hall audience numbers with those of other third-party candidates like Jill Stein and Chase Oliver, Cianci is impressed. While Stein and Oliver drew around 30,000 viewers, Kennedy’s town hall attracted over 198,000 viewers.
Expanding the town hall concept, Cianci plans to include a post-TikTok Live conversation to be hosted on X, the platform most requested by participants in her TikTok Live series.
James Li, a TikTok creator who participated in the town hall, shares, “I don’t think the town halls will instantly boost your following, but they certainly foster a stronger sense of community.”
Despite Amaryllis Kennedy’s hesitance to invest in Meta due to previous platform-related controversies, the campaign has been actively running ads on Facebook and Instagram to promote the candidate since June 2023, indicating a strategic digital marketing push despite past setbacks.
Moreover, the campaign has enlisted a surrogate director, Orion Solarion, formerly associated with the Bernie Sanders campaign, to harness and steer the growing support for Kennedy’s candidacy.
While Matt Corridoni of the Democratic National Committee believes that voters will eventually realize the binary choice between Trump and Biden, he also emphasizes that detailed information about Kennedy’s background, including ties to prominent figures like Steve Bannon and Trump’s major donor, will sway voters away.
Despite facing ballot access challenges nationwide, Kennedy’s campaign remains digital-centric, relying heavily on the internet as its primary communication platform. Amaryllis Kennedy expresses gratitude for the ability of voters to explore diverse viewpoints in the current era of new media and social platforms.
Update: July 12, 2024 – This story has been revised to include information about the funding allocated by American Values PAC for a specific platform.