Social Media Influencers to Speak at the Democratic Convention

A speaking slot at a national party’s nominating convention is among the most coveted prizes in American politics, offering veteran officeholders and up-and-comers alike the chance to speak to — and be seen by — an entire nation.

At the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago, five of those rare slots will go to a group that most likely would be unfamiliar to previous convention planners: social media influencers.

Convention officials said each night would include at least one influencer. The speakers are Deja Foxx, Nabela Noor, Carlos Eduardo Espina, Olivia Julianna and John Russell, a group of millennial and Gen Z influencers who, collectively, have well over 24 million social media followers.

They will speak on the same podium as President Biden; the Democratic nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota; and party luminaries, including two former presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, among others.

“This feels very affirming,” said Ms. Foxx, 24, a reproductive rights activist from Arizona who worked on Ms. Harris’s first presidential campaign. She’ll speak about abortion rights on Monday night in a program that will also feature Mr. Biden. “I don’t take it lightly that I’m speaking on the same night as the president of the United States,” she said.