How are campaigns harnessing social media during election season?

In every election cycle, political campaigns strategize about how to harness the power of the media — from speaking to certain outlets to targeting different demographics.

In this year’s California primary, Democratic candidate Tom Steyer spent more than $195 million on broadcast advertising, setting the record for the most expensive political advertising campaign in the country this year. 

These strategies encompass both “traditional” media like television, radio and newspapers, as well as newer forms of communications. 

In September 2025 the Pew Research Center reported more than half of all Americans said they got at least some part of their news from social media. Of that total, 21% said they often look to social media as part of their news diet.

Campaigns have also relied on social media influences, as well as content generated by artificial intelligence, as part of their outreach to potential voters.

Mindy Romero is the founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy. She spoke with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about the impact of new media during election season, and what to track heading into the November general.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

There were a lot of debates for this year’s governor’s race. But do you think people still watch debates in their entirety, or are they scrolling on social media and seeing the highlights? 

I think for most people it's the latter and it's definitely a maybe, especially when we're talking about the primary. Debates are important; we have to have that kind of statement of record. That opportunity to engage with candidates in a deeper way, have to have them be challenged and compared. 

But nowadays it's about the soundbite and that's what we actually see play out in terms of how a debate will be run, and how candidates are prepping for them. It's the “afterlife” that comes from what happens in the debate.

Another bridge between traditional media and new media technology is the rise of artificial intelligence, AI-generated ads. We saw this play out in the race for Los Angeles Mayor being used by reality TV candidate Spencer Pratt. What do you make of this? 

There's definitely a lot of concerns. I think for Pratt, it was probably a key factor and why he's doing so well. If he didn't have those AI-generated videos — Spencer Pratt becoming Batman, for instance — I don’t think he would have gotten as much attention… attention that really took him across the country. I think it took him to a totally different level than probably anybody expected initially.

Spencer Pratt, a candidate in the Los Angeles mayoral race, fields interviews during an election night event Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Los Angeles.AP Photo/Jill Connelly

In terms of the rest of the electorate, I think you really have to look at it in a couple of different ways. One is if there is disinformation or misinformation happening within that AI, and people can't tell that it's not the person saying it or not what they said, that’s really problematic. We still have a long way to go in terms of regulating all of that so the public does know, and of course technology's outpacing all of it. We’re already to the point that you can't tell the difference. 

If it's AI-generated for good, of course who ultimately decides what is good, but if it's making election officials’ job easier to produce content that is going to educate voters correctly, it can be very efficient. It can be used to help disseminate information in creative [or different] ways where maybe you couldn't afford a large campaign, if you were an election official or an advocacy group.

Given that social media is a big part of many people’s lives, and with the rise of these new technologies and messages being used by campaigns, what do you want people to keep in mind?

I think the use of influencers first and foremost has to be properly disclosed. There are the legal requirements through the FPPC; people’s campaigns do have to disclose what they are doing. But it’s not always clear from reading those disclosures where the money is going — if it’s going through a media outlet and then eventually going to an influencer. And then, what’s the willingness to be transparent right on the part of the influencer?

We've seen it in the gubernatorial race alone here in California. Steyer, at least just recently, it [was] discovered he was paying a number of influencers out from his campaign and they weren't disclosing, at least not most of them fully, that they were being paid. So it looked like it was a genuine endorsement, or an organic endorsement.

Nowadays people are so disconnected from the political process that something that is genuine, real and organic —- and they think is from another person that they already admire and consider trusted — can actually have a heavy weight. This is a really important topic, and one that I think is just going to multiply going forward. 

Looking ahead to the general election, what’s on your radar?

I'm thinking about all the noise that we're going to be expecting in November, and how so much of the California campaign landscape is probably going to get drowned out. There'll be a lot of attention on the gubernatorial race but other statewide races, local races in this new era that we’re in get really drowned out by the national landscape; the battle for control of Congress and also all of the things that we've seen, and things that we’re expecting from the federal government, the Trump Administration… executive orders, there’s a Supreme Court decision looming. 

There's a lot of concern around election interference. Whether that's real or otherwise, the perception of it can impact how people feel about the election. The conversation is happening, and all of that is real and very important to track, but it does make it harder for people just to get information on their local races, especially when local media is so fractured these days and often struggling. It's difficult in this environment for people to cut through the national noise.