Social media stars descend on Chicago for Democratic National Convention
CHICAGO (CBS) – For the first time in the history of American political conventions, organizers of the Democratic National Convention has credentialed more than 200 digital content creators to give them more access than ever before.
Organizers are hoping to tap into new audiences on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).
One of those content creators coming to this month's DNC is Shermann Dilla Thomas, has more than 100,000 TikTok followers focused on Chicago history and leads bus tours around the city. On a recent day, he was at the DNC offices in the West Loop working on a video for his DNC tour attendees.
"I certainly thought to myself, I definitely have to be on that list, right?" Thomas said. "As a person who, my content is made mainly recording the history of things that take place in history of Chicago and there aren't many things that are more historic than a presidential national convention."
He said as a credentialed content creator, he hasn't been given any talking points and raised concerns with the DNC about whether they would be monitoring or controlling his content.
"Will that have my credentials snatched back?" he said. "And the DNC said 'No,' and I thought that was really awesome."
Ben Wheeler creates global political content on his account, D1Wheeler, and averages about 500,000 views per video.
"I don't think they're going to tell us what to say, either," Wheeler said. "I wouldn't, even if they did."
DNC organizers hope having the organizers there will bring more exposure to the convention itself, and to the City of Chicago.
Wheeler said he wanted to come to the DNC because he thought it would be a historic moment with Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic Party's nominee for president.
"It's exhilarating," he said. "It's very exciting, and you know, Chicago is a world-class city."
