Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress in the November 3 midterms, a blue wave that was even bigger than many had predicted. The Associated Press called the Senate for Democrats late Tuesday and the House early Wednesday, and outlets reported Democrats flipping seven Republican-held Senate seats in Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Counts were still being finalized, but the headline was clear: people are ready for a change. But there’s one question we don’t know the answer to yet: did influencers matter in these campaigns?
Research shows influencers generally sway their followers. Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey found 21 percent of U.S. adults, and 38 percent of those ages 18 to 29, regularly get news from news influencers, and most come across it rather than seeking it out. In a September Morning Consult survey, 26 percent of adults said creator posts had affected whom they voted for, and 56 percent said they’d affected their views on political or social issues. Romain Vakilitabar of the nonprofit Pathos Labs says 40 percent of Gen Z gets news exclusively from TikTok. A 2024 Pew study found 72 percent of young adults who regularly get news from influencers said they helped them understand current events.
Influence isn’t the same as persuasion, though. Casey Klofstad, a University of Miami political scientist, says opinion leaders mostly reinforce what audiences already believe. Researcher Nicolette Alayon says parasocial relationships give influencers weight that other sources just don’t have. A 2024 analysis of 53 studies found that trust and credibility drive how audiences respond, and trust is exactly what influencers peddle in. Of course, it’s not just influencers that are potentially swaying voters. CBS News reported President Trump’s approval at 38 percent and that 89 percent of voters called cost of living a major or crucial factor. Creator Lauren Barnwell, who has more than 500,000 TikTok followers, says people with big platforms feel a duty to speak up, but “we shouldn’t be relying on influencers for political commentary.”
While we can’t say that influencers made a difference, we can say that money was poured into campaigns to try to. Brian Tyler Cohen’s progressive nonprofit Chorus pays creators monthly stipends for training and research, and co-founder Leigh McGowan says the effort answered the 2024 narrative that Democrats lost because they “weren’t showing up online.” Chorus doesn’t require creators to disclose its support, citing harassment concerns. Nonpartisan When We All Vote worked with beauty and lifestyle creators, including one who folded a voter-registration reminder into a makeup video. Katie Porter’s California gubernatorial campaign reportedly paid lifestyle creator Avery Cyrus $25,000 for what appeared to be a single TikTok post, and the New York Times reported that Tom Steyer’s campaign paid 17 influencers at least $5,000 each. Steyer defended the payments as compensation for creators’ work and time.
That’s just a few examples, but there are likely many more that we will never know about, because disclosure is a huge issue in this area. A Center for Democracy & Technology report, based on more than 30 interviews, found that financial ties between creators, agencies, and political groups are hard to trace, and its researchers wrote that opaque partnerships make it hard to tell “compensated and uncompensated political coordination” apart. Influencers aren’t legally required to tell audiences when they’re paid to support a candidate. At least, not yet.
As everyone processes the results and ramifications of this year’s midterm elections, we will likely see more discussions about political influencers and their future in the political arena. But we may never know exactly how much impact they made this year.