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NYT: Democrats Seek Funding for Social Media Campaigns Between Elections. [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-20
The New York Times reports that liberal strategists are asking wealthy donors to fund social media influencer to advocate for Democrats and Democratic values.
The tone of the article is skeptical, and sometimes dismissive – using terms like “throw money at the problem”. The writer chides liberal efforts to “find the next Joe Rogan”, but he is correct to observe that Rogan’s podcast was not built by political donors and took years to gain an audience.
Nonetheless, the article is informative. Some highlights:
Unnamed Democratic operatives cited in the story believe that they must build the Democratic brand in non-political media, that focus on sports, music, or lifestyle topics.
Aides to George Soros and Laurene Powell Jobs held meetings on this subject in Washington last February.
In May, the think-tank Civic Resolve , hosted an event in Austin, where fifty digital operatives presented proposals.
, hosted an event in Austin, where fifty digital operatives presented proposals. Another recent gathering in California hosted by Future Forward brought progressive content creators and Democratic megadonors together.
brought progressive content creators and Democratic megadonors together. Mark Gallogly, a private-equity veteran and Democratic donor, has invited contributors and operatives to a series of gatherings on this issue in New York.
Some names to keep an eye on:
Marissa McBride, who leads the liberal donor group Mind the Gap, stated that donors are looking for social media that has already demonstrated public appeal, saying, “There has to be something that is happening organically”.
McBride and others, however, have established a for-profit media company called AND Media, which stands for “Achieve Narrative Dominance” (ugh). Christian Tom, who led digital strategy for the Biden White House, has pitched the company to American Bridge donors as a broad cultural project.
The company intends to raise $45 million in seed capital over the next four years, and plans to have an operating budget $70 million (based on predictions of $25 million in annual ad revenue). AND Media has raised $7 million so far.
Chorus, is a liberal nonprofit group co-founded by the Democratic influencer Brian Tyler Cohen. Their mission is to end the far-right’s domination of online conversation.
Project Bullhorn is an effort to raise $35 million in donations for a network of online creators. It is affiliated with Jason Berkenfeld, who advises Google billionaire Eric Schmidt on political contributions. Project Bullhorn also plans to include a for-profit arm that will make the advocacy work self-sustaining.
Rob Flaherty, aide to Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign, and a digital media executive, Mike Vainisi, are speaking to donors about another for-profit company called Channel Zero. The group intends to provide supportive services to content creators who already have followings.
Flaherty is also advising Project Echo, a new four-year $52 million influencer program from People for the American Way. The group is spending about $10 million of its own money and pitching donors for the rest.
Double Tap Democracy (Jesus… who thinks up these names???) is a new project that works with 2,000 mostly non-political creators with smaller followings. This one was started by Rachel Irwin, who led a $30 million influencer for Future Forward, the biggest Democratic super PAC.
She has argued to others that the party did not invest early or enough in cultural talent in the last election, and that she is trying to learn from her experience at Future Forward.
“We can’t keep running these programs late in the cycle, only to break down after or treat these relationships as transactional and expect success,” Ms. Irwin wrote to allies in a March email seen by The Times. “Every day we don’t engage online is a missed opportunity — and we can’t afford to wait.”
Rob Flaherty reiterated the need to seek out what’s already working in social media and build on it.
“The key is building off what’s already resonating and investing in it,” he said. “If it all goes into more tools for delivering poll-tested messaging, it’ll fall flat with its audience. At that point, you might as well just buy ads.”
The NYT reporter noted that these programs are similar, and will compete for the same scarce capital. Democratic strategists say that many major liberal donors are more focused on funding legal efforts to fight the Trump administration here and now.
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