How House Dems recruited an army of influencers to document Trump’s wild 100-minute speech
By Michael Jones
After being held in the Capitol’s crypt—a circular chamber on the first floor lined with 13 historic statues—for what felt like an eternity, Capitol Police finally allowed me and dozens of other reporters and staffers to ascend the spiral staircase past the House speaker’s suite into Statuary Hall.
You may know the hall as a chamber devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans, including Thomas Edison, Billy Graham, and Rosa Parks. But last Tuesday night, it was transformed into a spin room—the area where reporters speak to members of Congress after big presidential speeches.
I made it to Stat Hall moments after President Donald Trump’s 100-minute address to a joint session of Congress. The mission: Find a few chatty lawmakers to provide an instant reaction to what they just heard. But the pickings were sort of slim, and I’d soon learn why.
Some of the most prominent Democrats were in the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center in a separate spin room being interviewed by dozens of influential creators who had been recruited by the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee to produce content before, during, and after Trump’s speech.
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), the youngest member of Congress and a co-chair of the DPCC, told me the committee worked with the Black and Hispanic caucuses to select a diverse group of creators, ensuring the party’s core constituencies were represented. While video dominates digital media, Frost said House Democrats intentionally included podcasters alongside YouTubers and social media influencers. But none of it would have worked without member buy-in.
“We really pushed members to come,” Frost said. “We told them, ‘Look, go do the usual spin room—it’s important. But with the news cameras, you’re talking to one reporter at a time, maybe five or six total. In this room, there are 20, 30 creators ready to engage with you all at once.’ And that’s a powerful thing.”
The two-term congressman added that creators appreciated the flexibility to pull members aside for hallway conversations or take them back to their offices for interviews. “And here’s the thing: Some of these creators are critical of the Democratic Party,” he said. “We invited them anyway because the best way to build bridges is to actually have a conversation and take the tough questions.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told me last week that more than 35 million people engaged with content created during the joint address. For perspective, 30 million Americans watched Trump’s speech live.
Some of the joint address creators got a taste of the VIP treatment at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last August when the Democratic National Committee integrated more than 200 content creators from platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to engage younger voters during the four-day event. The creators were granted credentials, providing them with access comparable to traditional journalists.
Frost said the DPCC is already planning activations around future high-profile political events. He added that the DPCC would be hiring a senior leader to expand these efforts. The House Democrats’ influencer outreach during the joint address is part of several tactics national Democrats are employing as they chart a path back to power in 2026 and beyond.
The night after the joint address, Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), another DPCC co-chair, told hundreds of thousands of supporters at a DNC virtual town hall that the House Democrats’ messaging strategy reflects members’ recognition of the evolving media landscape and the importance of digital platforms in modern political campaigns.
“It’s no secret that our party is at an inflection point in the minority. Our job is two fold: We must call out the harm that the Trump-Musk-Vance administration is causing in every one of our communities,” she said, reflecting how Democrats are branding the administration as an alliance of Trump’s politics and Elon Musk’s influence on the right. “But we also have to present our own authentic, positive vision for the future and make sure that we’re reaching people where they are in today’s fast moving digital landscape.”
House Democrats aren’t the only ones embracing this shift. Across the Capitol, Senate Democrats are also adapting to the digital-first era—led in part by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
Following the 2024 election, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) added Booker to his leadership team, charging the two-term senator with reimagining how Senate Democrats communicate their message with voters.
Booker told NOTUS that his strategy has included hiring in-house content creators, partnering with influencers, and cross-promoting his colleagues on his own widely followed social media accounts.
Since December, average daily engagement for Senate Democrats has tripled, but Booker remains adamant that they have much further to go. He described the party’s progress as moving from “crawling to walking” and expressed his ambition to accelerate this transformation. He has even begun awarding Senate colleagues for their most creative social media posts, fostering a competitive culture around online engagement.
“We’ve gone from addition to multiplication,” Booker said to NOTUS. “We need to do string theory.”
Michael Jones is an independent Capitol Hill correspondent and contributor for COURIER. He is the author of Once Upon a Hill, a newsletter about Congressional politics.
