Come Election Day, the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns will have a closer understanding of which strategies worked and which failed. Voters under 35 during this cycle are roughly 29% With 100 percent of the national electorate and razor-thin margins across the country, campaigns have had to pay more attention to young voters.

As a result, we’ve seen candidates emerge in ways you wouldn’t expect. Both campaigns used memes and viral moments on social media platforms like TikTok to spread their messages. It’s a platform used by almost 50% of Latino adults. It’s a subgroup of young voters that has become particularly important in this election.

Additionally, Vice President Kamala Harris made headlines after appearing on the popular lifestyle podcast: Call his father, It is preferred among young women. As former President Donald Trump steps in manosphere appeared in the new media pocket and podcasts, Last Weekend with Theo Von And Joe Rogan Experience– Both are extremely popular among young men.

About 17.5 million Latinos are expected to vote in 2024, and 1 in 5 will vote for the first time. “They represent a larger portion of the emerging American electorate,” says Christina Bajarano, a political science professor at Texas Woman’s University. “Latinos tend to be a younger demographic in the U.S., but as that younger population starts to get old enough to vote, we’re seeing Latino voters tend to be younger than voters across the country.” Latinos rrepresents 50% of the total increase in voters this cycle. What makes the young Latino vote particularly strong is that the most significant increases in turnout are expected in key battleground states.

Therefore, both campaigns are looking to capitalize on this growing electorate and have linked up with two young Latinos, Hilario Deleon (23) and Carlos Eduardo Espina (25), to win the votes of young Latinos.

Hilario Deleon is chairman of the Milwaukee County Republican party, which represents nearly 1 million people in the battleground state of Wisconsin. But just four years ago, Hilario was a dishwasher before being recruited by the GOP in Wisconsin to get young men of color to vote for Trump. He says he doesn’t care what he has to do to vote for Trump: “If I have to go through a war zone, he has my vote. “And I’m going to try to get a lot of people to join me, my friends, my family, my neighbors, it doesn’t matter, independents, undecided voters, Democrats, anyone and everyone.”

While older Latino voters have historically voted Democratic, the relationship between younger Latinos and the Democratic party is less than solid. According to the Brookings Institution, 37 percent of young Latinos say the Democratic party and the current President do not care about the Latino community. It’s this sense of exhaustion among young Latinos that gives the Republican party and Hilario a slight edge. The Trump campaign doesn’t need to talk specifically to young Latino voters because they have a reliable base of older, non-college-educated white voters. So Hilario just needs to find the right people like him who are attracted to the party because of Trump.

On the Democratic side, the campaign is run by 25-year-old Carlos Eduardo Espina. He is an immigrant rights activist who recently graduated from law school and has 14 million followers on social media platforms. “I think that’s the most important thing. You know, it’s like you always have to provide some kind of value or use to the user. And I think that attracts people.” Carlos says.

Renée DisResta, author of Invisible Rulers and former research director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, says political influencers come about this way: “Political campaigns show that the same kind of persuasive capacity that can help someone decide to buy a pair of shoes, that kind of persuasive capacity, can help a person decide to buy a pair of shoes.” “He realized it could help him decide to buy a pair of shoes.” help someone decide to vote for a particular candidate. Renée doesn’t see a future where influencers aren’t involved in campaigns.

I came back in February, While Biden is still the Democratic nomineeCarlos met with the White House Digital Communications team and was one of 5 social media influencers who secured a strong speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention in August, endorsing Harris for President. Carlos believes influencers like himself will make a difference, but he’s not so sure if young people will follow and vote.

Time will tell whether Hilario or Carlos make any changes to the young Latino vote, where even a small population can change the balance of power. We’ll wait and see until then.

This story is part of our special election coverage: The Latino Factor: How We Vote.

Featured graphic of Monica Morales-Garcia.