“kamala IS brat” and Has My Vote
Kamala Harris Has Taken Gen Z by Storm and Embraced Being “Brat”
When President Joe Biden announced he was dropping his reelection campaign in the 2024 race, I have to admit that I was surprised. Though I watched the long and sometimes incoherent CNN debate between President Biden and former President Donald Trump, I didn’t think Biden would actually withdraw from the race.
For almost a month, Biden’s own party members and public polls have said that he should throw in the towel, but he was steadfast. To suddenly drop out so late in the election year, after the Democratic Party had rallied behind him in March, was a bit shocking. Then he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic candidate.
I immediately turned to the internet about this decision. Crash course videos and hundreds of posts on my Instagram feed popped up about what Biden’s withdrawal meant for the party. But this discourse quickly disappeared from my feed, and Kamala Harris replaced it.
The internet — and perhaps more appropriately — Gen Z is fully embracing her as the new Democratic candidate. Kamala was already garnering support when singer Charli XCX posted “kamala IS brat” on X (formerly Twitter).
The post relates to the singer’s new album of the same name, which has been trending this summer. “Brat” has its own definition via the singer, meaning “you’re just that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes.”
Kamala already has “fancam” edits on TikTok and Instagram collages supporting her as the next president. With Charli XCX’s endorsement, Gen Z has made edits using songs from the BRAT album to bolster her presence online, making her a clearer choice to younger generations.
Most videos are made with clips from a speech in May where she says: “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” Gen Z has made the speech a trend and has revamped it to support her campaign.
It is because of Harris’s zany nature and tendency to laugh that makes her easy to relate to, and Gen Z connects with this. It’s realistic and almost endearing that she says what comes to mind, and it’s refreshing to laugh alongside her during a silly moment.
And Harris has been smart about jumping on the bandwagon. The Kamala HQ X page has changed its theme to match the BRAT album. On their TikTok account, they made a post using singer Chappell Roan’s lyrics to promote her campaign, which currently has over 20 million views.
And as someone who’s been scrolling through endless edits of the Vice President, I have to admit that I’m with my generation in who I want to see as the democratic choice. I think it helps that Harris has said before how much she loves Gen Z, but I think we realize that with the options and time left, she’s a good choice.
The biggest thing for me: she isn’t Trump. With the Republican National Party fully backing Donald Trump as their candidate, we face new impossible choices. The conservative Republicans have presented their plan for Project 2025, which they plan to put in place if Trump is re-elected.
We could see the dismantling of news and public broadcast systems, the elimination of the Department of Education and of Homeland Security, and a restructuring of the Department of Justice that would throw checks and balances out of the window.
Trump’s Authoritarian Playbook for 2025, which includes ushering in Project 2025 plans, would give him the power to investigate critics and rivals, deploy the military domestically, and allow him to pardon himself of all of the 34 guilty convictions he received.
With the mounting list of everything that is on the line, Harris will be receiving my support. In truth, she’s not the perfect candidate — I don’t like her support of the war in Palestine, or her work with the prison and bail system, among other things. But all politicians have their drawbacks. In this election, I’m looking between a woman with some views I fundamentally disagree with, or a man who says he’ll strip my rights away (if not in those exact words).
The choice for me is easy — I’ll take the brat. And seeing a fancam edit of Harris on TikTok only assures me that my generation feels the same way, regardless of how unserious it looks. I think we can figure out our disagreements when she’s in office. It’s hard to say the same for Trump.