TikTok star Cheyenne Hunt is hoping to unseat Republican Representative Michelle Steel next year by using the social media platform to address issues with the U.S. economy from a Gen Z perspective.
"We are feeding our young people through a system where some of them are taking on unprecedented levels of debt to get a level of education that's considered basic or entry level for many jobs in the marketplace," Hunt told Newsweek in a Friday interview. "The vast majority of them are now applying for jobs that [don't pay] a living wage... The likelihood that folks in our generation will ever own a home is lower than ever."
"All of those things put together is pretty antithetical to that idea of the American dream," the 25-year-old said.
Early in 2020, Gen Z was projected to inherit a strong economy and record-low unemployment, but all those financial expectations disappeared overnight with the COVID pandemic, propelling younger Americans into an uncertain economic state. Widespread layoffs and in-person work resulted in unemployment rising by 1.5 million in March 2020. While recent reports show jobs are coming back and new U.S. growth, inflation has remained stubborn, forcing the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high, which has in turn reinforced the current housing shortage.
Hunt said part of the reason why America needs to elect more young people to Congress is because her generation faces a myriad of issues that previous ones have not experienced, especially when they were entering the workforce.
"There's been opportunities to take really bold action on climate, 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—whether that's student loan forgiveness or childcare—and that hasn't happened," the Democrat said. "There is a little sense of betrayal among young people of the current system."
Hunt has been posting on TikTok since October 2020—two and a half years before she launched her congressional campaign—sharing clips of her dissecting national politics and offering progressive solutions to both 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 only 74 followers, and Steel doesn't utilize the platform at all.
Having already built a presence on TikTok at the time of her campaign launch, Hunt said her knowledge of navigating the app has helped her leverage her following into a number of different communication strategies that have advanced her reach.
"Donors, voters in general, are much easier to reach on social media nowadays," she said. "So, to not utilize those tools is definitely a deficit."
If Hunt were to successfully unseat Steel, a two-term congresswoman who has aligned herself with former President Donald Trump, she would be the second member of Gen Z elected to Congress, behind freshman Representative Maxwell Frost of Florida. She would also be the second Democrat to represent California's 45th district. In the 2018 midterm elections, progressive Katie Porter was elected to the post and held onto the seat until she was redistricted to the 47th district in last year's election.
"Michelle's record really speaks to just how radical her position is," Hunt said of Steel, who has an A rating from the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List for her voting history in the 117th Congress. "My community and my district aren't in alignment with that brand of radicalism. They rejected Trump in the last election cycle...Her close alignment with the most extreme and regressive names of her party, as well as her stance on abortion, are certainly things [my campaign] will highlight."
While the 45th district typically votes red on the state level—voting for Republican Brian Dahle over Governor Gavin Newsom and Republican Mark Meuser over Senator Alex Padilla last year—it hasn't voted for a Republican in a presidential election since George W. Bush in 2004. President Joe Biden carried the district with more than 53 percent of the vote in 2020.
Although some may overlook Hunt, the attorney and progressive activist described herself as the most experienced candidate in her primary race, citing her internship with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and her work as a big tech accountability advocate at the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Public Citizen.
"There is this belief that because I'm younger...I must be less experienced than other folks and yet, I would argue that I'm the most experienced person in my primary," Hunt said. "I'm the only one with any kind of federal policy experience. I'm the only person who's drafted federal legislation, who's worked in the halls of Congress to get it passed, who's worked in the White House for the policy advisor in a number of different capacities."
Hunt's not naïve about how her age could work against her. She told Newsweek that she's had to work to overcome the preexisting prejudices people have about her generation by making sure votes are hearing about her resume.
Hunt is currently the highest fundraiser in her primary race. In the first quarter, she raised over $170,000 from April through June, data from the Federal Election Commission shows. The other two candidates running for the Democratic nomination—Garden Grove Councilwoman Kim Bernice Nguyen and attorney Aditya Pai—have raised just over $151,000 and $139,000, respectively.
Hunt said while her donations have come from various platforms and donors, a significant portion is from her campaign's online presence.
"It's been a tremendous help," Hunt said. "I'm a proponent of speaking to people where they are. We know we've got hundreds of millions of people on TikTok and spending time on social media in general. Being able to bring them the messaging of our campaign to a place where they are plugged in and paying attention—it's certainly a big asset."
Steel, however, announced in mid-July that Steel had raised "over $1.1 million in the second quarter of 2023. The impressive 3-month number brings Steel's 2023 total to over $2.3 million, coming from 9,112 unique donors. Steel currently has $1.7 million cash-on-hand for her 2024 reelection campaign."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
