Inside the Democratic Party's effort to enlist social media influencers ahead of 2028

About 1 in 5 adults say they regularly get news from influencers online.

After their 2024 election loss, Democrats are looking to improve in one area where Republicans have dominated in recent years: the social media landscape.

The Democratic National Committee has been working to grow its "Influencer & Creative" program, partnering with more than 500 creators to help amplify the party's messaging ahead of the 2026 midterms and going into the 2028 presidential election.

The effort reflects Democrats' push to better compete with Republicans online, where influencers and podcasters are becoming increasingly powerful. It also comes as concerns grow over transparency with influencers in the political arena.

Matt Rein, the DNC's first director of the program, told ABC News in an interview that one of his top priorities is to build out the program into a sustainable model long-term.

"The program ... was something that really needed to be built back up, and I think we've absolutely done that over the last year," Rein told ABC News in an interview.

Rein told ABC News that there is no minimum number of followers that a creator needs to have to be part of the organization's program. Any creator that wants to be involved can be.

"We have folks in our Signal [chat] about 1,000 followers; we have people who have 10 million [followers], right? I think our focus is getting content to people who are reaching Americans every single day online and certainly I think we've done that," Rein said.

According to a Pew Research report published in November 2025, about 1 in 5 U.S. adults (21%) say they regularly get news from news influencers on social media.

Meanwhile, about 38% of younger adults, ages 18-29, are especially likely to get news from news influencers.

The DNC supports participating creators by providing political video clips they can share on their platforms, along with regular briefings featuring Democratic lawmakers and officials. Recent briefings have included Rep. Jason Crow discussing the Iran conflict with more than 30 influencers and Rep. Jamie Raskin speaking about his work related to the Jeffrey Epstein files.

At the DNC's winter meeting, they coordinated a creator hit with Arielle Fodor (who is known on TikTok as "Mrs. Frazzled" with 1.4 million followers) and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

As political campaigns continue to invest in digital creators, NOTUS has reported that the DNC is considering hosting a creator-led debate during the 2028 Democratic presidential primaries. Asked about the idea, Rein did not rule it out but said his c