Politicians deserve fit checks, too
Lauren Green collaborates on TikTok with everyone from AOC to Fetterman.
Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.
Don’t ask me about politics but do ask me about their outfits. — Kate
In a matter of weeks, social media literacy became one of the most important traits for a politician looking to succeed in 2024. The frankly miraculous turnaround of the Democratic party is down in significant part to online coherency. Right out of the gate, Kamala HQ’s Twitter and TikTok were going viral — and not for being cringe, either. Finally, a politician is speaking the language of younger voters, while also not alienating older supporters. It’s both a fine line, but also, a pretty straightforward opportunity that it’s hard to believe took them ten years to seize.
This means politics, as a whole, might finally start taking social media seriously. They’re seeing the value of TikTok and Instagram in their own careers, which means they can start asking the right questions about regulating them — instead of proposing outright bans or completely misunderstanding, and therefore dismissing, their purpose.
Perhaps the best way to keep your finger on the pulse of all this is to follow National Journal congressional reporter Lauren Green. On TikTok, she documents her days in the life reporting on Congress, but also directly engages with senators and representatives, pulling them between votes to do — what else? — a fit check.
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Some participants, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxwell Frost, are part of a new wave of politicians who grew up on social media, and happily join Green on screen. In other cases, you can see the confusion in their eyes as they, nevertheless, gamely show off their jackets and shoes. Afterwards, Green says, she’ll hear from their teams, thanking her for doing something they’ve so far been unable to: making politicians look human.
I wanted to speak with Green about this shift, so we talk about the logistics of wrangling serious politicians into participating in TikTok trends, how their attitudes towards platforms like TikTok are changing, and whose outfit she wants to show off next.
First, I would love to hear about who you are and how you got started on the journalism side of things, specifically reporting from Congress.
I went to school in Oklahoma, and they have a J-school that is pretty well known. My main professor in college was CNN's foreign correspondent for a while, so pretty deep rooted in DC. And then he started a DC program, which I did the summer after I graduated, which is essentially on the ground reporting on Congress. I didn't think I wanted to do it until I got there and I was like, “Whoa, this is cool.” I fell in love with it. I went to grad school for a year in Austin, loved Austin, but I couldn't get DC outta my head. So I moved back.
What does Congress reporting typically entail?
It is so much waiting. Like the last day that I was at Congress before they recessed out, I had a story that I had to talk to Senator Manchin for, and I went to three different votes to try to find him. I waited for six hours, no work being done. A typical day if I go to the Hill, since I do both House and Senate, it is a little bit more chaotic, but also more moving around. Essentially we can go to votes and whenever they're walking from their office buildings to votes, we can grab them. There's different ways that they can go where they don't see us, so if we see them, they want to be seen. It's pretty much free rein for journalists to essentially bombard them and be like, “Hey, here's what story I'm working on, what are your thoughts?” We can also go to hearings. I try not to do that because it's a lot of waiting there. It's not just 30 minutes, it's hours.
Whenever I go to votes for whatever story I'm on, I usually try to get whatever I need for my story, and then I try to just ask them [for TikToks] whenever they're coming in and out of votes. The House is so much more chill. You see them outside, we can walk the steps with them, we can take the elevator with them. Whereas in the Senate I usually don't just bombard them and ask them, because it's a little bit more uptight over there.
When did you start making TikToks?
I started making them whenever I interned in DC, because my entire family lives in Texas. I'm the only one that doesn't live in Houston. Literally my grandparents got TikTok 'cause they were all like, “We wanna know what you're doing.” And I was like, I don't really know how to show you what I'm doing without taking videos of it. So I started making vlogs of my day and it was literally just like my parents, my grandparents, and my parents' friends watching them. I started the week that Kevin McCarthy was ousted, and that was hours and hours and hours of waiting. And so my coworkers and I had just started talking about what they were wearing. I remember fangirling over Jeff Jackson because obviously he's a big TikTok guy and I was like, honestly, I should just ask him. I bet he would. It kind of just started on a whim.
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I was gonna say, who was the first politician you got to do a TikTok with you, and did you have to explain it?
Yeah, it was Jeff Jackson, which made it a lot easier because he was definitely familiar and I didn't have to explain it. And then that one was one of my ones that did better. And so it kind of just took off. And I know a bunch of staffers on the Hill saw it, which was super helpful. I think that it would've been different if the first one didn't really do well and then people hadn't seen it and I would've had to explain it, 'cause sometimes they are confused. I've definitely explained it to some of the older members and they're like, “No. That's not for me.”
Are there people who have been particularly down to do it?
Honestly, in the House it is a lot easier. I have gotten a lot of nos in the Senate and, I mean, I get it. If you read my comments, I do get a lot of hate comments. Not towards me, just politics in general. But the House, I don't think I've ever had anybody in the house say no to me. AOC, I think just because she's younger, was like, “Yes, let's do this.” I didn't even have to explain it. I barely uttered the words and she was like, “Okay. Set it up.” Maxwell Frost, I did one with him and he was actually funny. I asked him and he was like, “Can we do it tomorrow? I wanna wear a different outfit.” So we did it a different day. But then also I've had, like I did Moscowitz, he's not an older congressman, but his wife commented, she was like, "I never thought I'd see my husband do an OOTD."
I figured AOC was a fun one.
I was so nervous to do her just because whenever you report on Congress, you hear them talk all the time. I've talked to her multiple times, she's so passionate, that I was nervous to ask her something so casually, 'cause normally she's being asked about huge issues that are very pressing. But she was so into it.
You mentioned hate comments. How do people generally react to the videos? Do they make requests?
I haven't really gotten requests, which is probably the most surprising part. I would love if people did give requests, 'cause then I would know who to do. I will say the comments on some of them are very politically motivated, but within the Hill I've gotten insanely positive feedback. It has helped me as a reporter not on TikTok things, because once I do a video with them, I feel like it's easier for them to remember me and I remember them, and then even their comms people have reached out and just been like, “Thank you for doing this. We try so hard to make them seem human on social media, but from their own social accounts it just comes off as politically motivated. Whereas from your account, they actually look human.”
I think Kamala's campaign has really shown the value of having people around you who are internet literate and taking social media seriously. And so I was curious if from your time being there, and especially as someone who asks them to do OOTDs, what is your takeaway? Do you think Congress is becoming more social media-friendly?
They definitely are. They all definitely want to have that social media presence, but their teams are run by a lot more middle aged people who aren't Gen Z and can't connect on that personal level of social media, making it casual, that Kamala HQ TikTok has done it to a point that they're reaching people right where they are. I mean, comms teams have gotten a lot better about it. If you look on Twitter, they're joking about it. I don't know if you know Senator Grassley, he runs his own Twitter. I think he's one of the only senators that does, he does corn watch. So I think they're definitely trying to get there, but I think that sometimes it just comes across as calculated PR.
That kind of answers my next question. With the success of something like Kamala HQ, I'm surprised everyone's not like, “Oh, we gotta do that.”
They have to be so cautious because me posting an OOTD is different because it's from my account. I'm a journalist. I think it's from a different perspective. If they're posting that, they're gonna get so much blow back. I get so many comments and I'm not working in their office. It's like, “You're using taxpayer dollars to do this.” So I think that they just have to be so cautious about what they use their time on social media for. Because even if it is fun and light, you're gonna get majority people who are engaging and they like it, but you'll always get those people that are frustrated that it's less serious than they would like to be seeing.
How do you see TikTok's relationship to your work as a journalist?
I got so lucky at National Journal. They're very supportive. They really let me have free reign over it, which I know that a lot of other media organizations, if I was doing political content for personal things, it would be monitored a lot more. I have been thinking that I want to start to do more. Since we are a nonpartisan news organization, it's just striking that balance of not coming off like I'm endorsing their message on TikTok. I don't want it to come off as me agreeing with them as much as me spreading news of what's going on. I've actually been talking with a lot of our social media team, they wanna start using it because I've talked to a bunch of comms directors on the Hill and they were like, “This is one of the first things we've seen that has broken the TikTok sphere.”
When Congress resumes, is there someone you still haven't gotten who you really wanna get and do their OOTD or another type of video?
So honestly the one that I really hope to do, I just think it's because the first election that I was really cognizant of name recognition was when Romney was running. And so I really wanna do Senator Romney before he retires in November. Even though I talk to him for work, he still seems like a celebrity figure almost. There are a lot of people that I would love to do in this Congress, but I am excited for a new Congress to come in and new freshmen to come in, 'cause I think that a lot of times freshmen have bills that they try to pass or they just don't get recognized.
Yeah. And they'll be grateful for an outlet to get their face out there.
Completely. I haven't tried too hard, I'm gonna try a little bit harder, this is so farfetched...I would love to do Kamala.
I was gonna say it's in your future.
I feel like our TikTok vibes kind of match. So I think that it's farfetched, but it's definitely not completely out of the picture. That would be awesome. I would also love to start doing governors like Wes Moore. He's right there. And he's so young and I'm sure his team would love to do it. So just getting all those people who would even say yes. I think that that's the hardest part, is finding people who would say yes.
Kamala seems to have a team that's really into it.
Totally. And our intern this summer was from Harvard and her best friend is...so Kamala HQ on TikTok is run by a Harvard senior political science major who's a famous TikTokker.
Wait, that's crazy I didn't know that.
And so she's friends with him and I'm like, please, please, please. But I'm sure that he doesn't have easy access to her. But that would be insane.