A recent fundraising event by US Vice President and presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris has been claimed as the largest Zoom call ever held.
Vice President Harris’ fundraising event ‘White Women: Answer the Call’, which raised over $11 million for her recently announced presidential campaign, reportedly broke the record for the highest attendance of any Zoom call, with a reported 200,000 attendees present on the video conferencing platform.
The 200,000 strong Zoom participants reportedly overwhelmed the call at one stage and even ‘flooded’ the campaign donation link. This does seem to have been a temporary hitch, and the Zoom call has been hailed as a huge success.
Zoom Boom
The news is the largest in a series of stunningly popular virtual grassroots campaign events for Harris, including ‘Win With Black Women’ and ‘White dudes for Harris’, which are said to have raised $2m and $4m respectively.
By harnessing the fresh energy of its new candidate, the Democratic Party has found great success with the ‘Zoom Boom’ fundraising strategy, with the DNC reporting it broke records with over $6.5 million raised in one day (July 21st) through grassroots donations.
The record-breaking rally comes after Harris stepped up to the presidential nomination after current President Joe Biden pulled out of the 2024 race. In the week since, a seemingly revitalised democratic campaign has raised over $200 million in donations and gained 170,000 volunteers.
Digital strategy and virtual campaigns have become increasingly crucial in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic pushing candidates to turn to online fundraising events.
Historically, this has produced mixed results for the Democratic Party - with candidates like Bernie Sanders’ online events attracting over five million viewers, but Joe Biden’s first virtual townhall dubbed a ‘technical nightmare’.
Virtual campaigning has unlocked the potential for exponential growth in audience - but can tech keep up?
Digital outreach is allowing political candidates to connect with voters from across the country without the expensive rallies and time consuming travel. It’s clear digital events will remain central to political campaigning for the foreseeable future, and Team Kamala is taking full advantage of an excited young audience and gaining valuable momentum ahead of the November 2024 election.
Zoom has declined to comment on the claim.
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