TikTok star Cheyenne Hunt is hoping to unseat Republican Rep. Michelle Steel next year by using the social media platform to address issues with the US economy from a Gen Z perspective.
“We feed our young people through a system in which some of them take on unprecedented levels of debt to attain a level of education that is considered base or entry-level for many jobs in the market,” Hunt told Newsweek in an interview on Friday. “The vast majority of them are now applying for jobs where… [don’t pay] a living wage… The likelihood that people of our generation will ever own their own home is less than ever.”
“It all goes against the idea of the American dream,” said the 25-year-old.
In early 2020, Generation Z was expected to inherit a strong economy and record-low unemployment, but with the COVID pandemic, all of those financial expectations vanished overnight, leaving younger Americans in an economically uncertain position. Mass layoffs and face-to-face work led to a 1.5 million increase in unemployment in March 2020. While recent reports suggest jobs are back and growth is on the rise in the US, inflation has remained stubborn, forcing the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high, which in turn has exacerbated the current housing crisis.
Cheyenne Hunt is running to impeach Republican Rep. Michelle Steel in California’s 45th congressional district.Cheyenne Hunt for Congress via Facebook
Hunt said part of the reason America needs to elect more young people to Congress is because their generation faces a variety of issues that previous generations have not faced, particularly in entering the workforce.
“There have been opportunities to take really bold action on climate change, to take bold action on women’s rights and reproductive rights, to make meaningful strides when it comes to the economy and our cost of living — be it waivers on student loans or childcare — and that didn’t happen.” “It didn’t happen,” the Democrat said. “There is a sense of betrayal of the current system among young people.”
Hunt has been posting on TikTok since October 2020 — two and a half years before she launched her convention campaign — analyzing national politics and offering progressive solutions to domestic and foreign concerns. As of Monday, she has more than 89,000 followers and over 3.6 million likes on the social media platform. Only one of the other candidates in her primary is on TikTok, with just 74 followers, and Steel doesn’t use the platform at all.
Hunt had already established a presence on TikTok by the time her campaign launched, and says her knowledge of navigating the app has helped her engage her followers in a variety of different communication strategies that have expanded her reach.
“Donors and voters in general are much easier to reach through social media these days,” she said. “Not using these tools is definitely a deficit.”
Should Hunt Steel, a two-time congresswoman who has allied himself with former President Donald Trump, successfully unseat, she would become the second member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress, behind newly minted Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost. She would also be the second Democrat to represent California’s 45th District. In the 2018 midterm election, progressive Katie Porter was elected to the post and held the seat until being reallocated to the 47th district in last year’s election.
“Michelle’s record really shows how radical her position is,” Hunt said of Steel, who received an A rating from anti-abortion advocate Susan B. Anthony List for her voting history in the 117th Congress. “My community and my district do not approve of this kind of radicalism. They rejected Trump in the last election cycle… Their close association with the most extreme and regressive names in their party, as well as their stance on abortion, are certainly things [my campaign] will highlight.
While the 45th Circuit typically votes red at the state level — last year it voted Republican Brian Dahle over Gov. Gavin Newsom and Republican Mark Meuser over Senator Alex Padilla — it hasn’t voted for a presidential election since George W. Bush voted one Republican in 2004. President Joe Biden led the district in 2020 with more than 53 percent of the vote.
Though some may overlook Hunt, the attorney and progressive activist described herself as the most experienced candidate in her primary campaign, citing her internship with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and her work as a great advocate for tech accountability at the Washington, DC-based non-profit organization Public Citizen.
“There’s a belief that because I’m younger I must be less experienced than other people, and yet I would still say that I’m the most experienced person in my elementary school,” Hunt said. “I’m the only one with any experience in federal politics. I’m the only person who has drafted federal legislation, who has worked in the halls of Congress to pass it, who has worked in the White House for the policy advisor number of different capacities.”
U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) attends a news conference on response to a Pacific Ocean oil spill on October 4, 2021 in Huntington Beach, California. TikTok star Cheyenne Hunt is hoping to unseat Republican Rep. Michelle Steel.Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty
Hunt is not naïve when it comes to how her age could be detrimental to her. She told Newsweek that she needs to work to break down people’s pre-existing prejudices against her generation by making sure voters know about her resume.
Hunt is currently the top fundraiser in her main race. In the first quarter, it raised over $170,000 from April to June, data from the Federal Election Commission shows. The other two candidates running for the Democrats’ nomination — Garden Grove Councilwoman Kim Bernice Nguyen and attorney Aditya Pai — have raised just over $151,000 and $139,000, respectively.
Hunt said that while her donations came from a variety of platforms and donors, a significant portion came from her campaign’s online exposure.
“It’s been a tremendous help,” Hunt said. “I’m a proponent of reaching out to people where they are. We know we have hundreds of millions of people on TikTok and generally spending time on social media. They’re connected and observant – that’s certainly a huge benefit.”
However, Steel announced in mid-July that Steel “raised over $1.1 million in the second quarter of 2023.” The impressive 3-month figure brings Steel’s 2023 total to over $2.3 million from 9,112 unique donors. Steel currently has $1.7 million in cash for her 2024 re-election campaign.”
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