Topline
After Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was announced as Kamala Harris’ running mate Tuesday the campaign began selling camouflage hats that read “Harris Walz” in the style of a similar hat sold by pop phenomenon Chappell Roan—marking the latest way the Democrats are embracing internet trends in their campaign.
Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Democratic vice presidential … [+]
Key Facts
The Harris team is marketing the hat, which retails on the Harris-Walz site for $40, as “the most iconic political hat in America,” and a campaign official told The Washington Post it sold out in a half-hour—though it was available for preorder as of Wednesday afternoon.
The merchandise is almost identical to a trucker hat sold by Roan—a 26-year-old pop star from Missouri who has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame in recent months—that reads “midwest princess,” referencing her album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”
Hester Leyser, director of strategic planning for mobilization for the Democratic National Committee, all but confirmed the merchandise was based on Roan’s hat and branding, saying on X, formerly known as Twitter “for all the midwest princesses out there – you asked, we answered.”
Walz even tweeted a picture of himself wearing the hat after his first rally with Harris on Tuesday with a link to the campaign store and the caption: “Capping off the night.”
Roan responded to the hat, which was all over social media Tuesday and Wednesday, saying “is this real.”
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Tangent
This isn’t the first time the Harris campaign has used something of Roan’s. In late July, Harris’ team used Roan’s song “Femininonenon” in a TikTok comparing Harris and Trump. Billboard reported the campaign’s use of the song boosted its streams by 19% from the week prior.
Key Background
Shortly after President Joe Biden left the race and endorsed Harris’ presidential run, her campaign embraced a surge of social media memes about her. The official @BidenHQ campaign X account quickly rebranded to @KamalaHQ and changed its cover photo to look like Charli XCX’s “brat” album artwork, with “kamala hq” in all lowercase in front of a chartreuse background. Charli XCX has been marketing the album by saying it’s a “brat summer”—which she said is about “being confident, putting yourself out there, being out, being about, being the center of attention”—and a number of other politicians and businesses like the United Kingdom’s Green Party and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority have adopted “brat”-style marketing. The singer herself has since endorsed Harris’ use of the branding, tweeting shortly after she took over for Biden: “kamala IS brat.” The campaign has also embraced sillier memes of Harris, including fan edits of her viral quote, “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.” Other Democrats began using coconut emojis and palm tree imagery to indicate support for Harris, and the @KamalaHQ account changed its X bio to: “Providing context,” seemingly nodding to the quote.
What To Watch For
Whether Roan, who is an icon for the LGBTQ+ community, joins the growing list of celebrities who have endorsed Harris and Walz. In June, Roan turned down Biden’s invitation to perform at the White House for a pride celebration, saying at the New York Governors Ball festival (where she performed instead), “we want liberty, justice, and freedom for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.” She continued: “That means freedom and trans rights, that means freedom and women’s rights, and it especially means freedom … for all oppressed people in occupied territories,” apparently referring to people in Gaza.
Further Reading
Israel and Hamas. Previously, she has covered a range of topics from Donald Trump’s legal battles to Taylor Swift’s path to becoming a billionaire. She joined Forbes in April 2022 and is based in Colorado. Prior to joining Forbes, Bohannon covered local news and spent time at the Fort Collins Coloradoan and the Arizona Republic. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Creighton University and has an MA in investigative journalism from Arizona State. Follow Bohannon for continued coverage of pop culture, politics and updates on the war in Gaza.
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