Harris campaign launches WhatsApp channel for Latino voters

The Harris campaign on Monday announced the launch of a WhatsApp channel intended to mobilize Latino voters ahead of November’s election.

WhatsApp is a key source of information and communication for many Latinos, who comprise a critical voting bloc.

The channel was launched with a bilingual video from campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez and will feature other Latino messengers with the campaign. Content will include daily voice memos, videos and notes from surrogates highlighting the campaign’s efforts and aiming to combat misinformation, officials said.

“While Donald Trump vilifies our community at every turn and uses us as a political punching bag, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know the power of our community and are fighting everyday on the issues that matter to Latino voters,” Maca Casado, the campaign’s Hispanic media director, said in a statement. “Now more than ever, we must meet Latinos where they are, and creative programs like this WhatsApp channel are how this campaign will reach the voters who will decide this election and win in November.”

The channel is the latest effort by the Harris campaign to reach voters through what they have described as a fragmented media environment. The campaign has also used TikTok, social media influencers and other methods to try to connect with voters.

A poll conducted from July 22 to Aug. 4 by Democratic polling firm Equis Research found Harris leading Trump by 19 percentage points among Latino voters in the seven battleground states likely to decide November’s election.

Harris’s 56 percent support in those states would be down slightly from President Biden’s national margin in 2020, when he won 65 percent of Latino voters, according to exit polls.