A group of conservative Gen Z influencers gathered to help elect Donald Trump in a last-minute attempt to convince younger Americans to vote Republican.
The Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit that has pushed conservative policies for more than 50 years, invited dozens of influencers to Washington, DC, this week.
The three-day Influence America Summit brought rising conservative stars like Savannah Chrisley, CJ Pearson, Sean Mike Kelly, Emily Saves America and more to the capital. DailyMail.com can exclusively report.
With nearly 50 million followers combined, the meeting was to discuss content strategies to get out the vote for Trump in the weeks leading up to Election Day.
From left to right: Emily Wilson of Emily Saves America, Chrissy Clark, Raquel DeBono, Liz Willis and Lexi Lach. Together they have hundreds of thousands of followers and have garnered millions of interactions on their Republican-leaning content.
“We convened 30 of our movement’s most impactful emerging young conservative voices, with a combined audience of nearly 50 million people, to strategize how we can reach America’s youth wherever they are,” said conservative influencer CJ , 22 years old. Pearson told DailyMail.com.
The Republican has been involved in politics since he was 12 years old and has been actively posting content for the past decade, earning him an audience of more than 700,000 on Instagram and X.
Pearson revealed that the creators of the Republican Party came together to fight a well-oiled Democratic influence machine that has brought social media stars to the White House and more to boost President Joe Biden and now Kamala Harris.
“For a long time, we’ve seen the left spend millions and millions of dollars to bolster these fake influencers like Harry Sisson and others, and I think if we’re going to fight their online indoctrination, we have to raise a digital army, and that’s exactly what we did.”
The conservative admitted that Democrats have stormed TikTok en masse and that Republicans are falling behind.
But Pearson believes the platform is up for grabs for whoever has the most compelling message, at least until it is banned in the United States in January.
With just 17 days until the presidential race, conservative creators made plans to synchronize their content.
Wilson poses with Nashville influencer Kristen Gaffney at the summit
Reality TV star Savannah Chrisley joined Pearson to moderate a discussion at the summit.
Pearson said his followers can expect content focused on immigration and the economy in a variety of forms.
“So what you’re going to see as a result of this is a lot of content from everyday people, a lot of reaction videos around these issues that we know are moving people to our side and helping us reach them where they are,” Pearson. he told DailyMail.com.
And part of that strategy is highlighting emerging voices like Emily Wilson, who runs the popular Instagram account. Emily saves America.
Speaking by phone to DailyMail.com, Wilson described how he was “taking notes” on strategies to engage his supporters at the summit.
She revealed that she originally started posting videos 4.5 years ago and at the time it went viral primarily for its cultural content, but later found success by speaking openly about her political beliefs.
“I think my first viral video was actually talking trash about feminism,” she said. “And I, you know, I’ve never been a political person.”
Now, after living in California most of his life and disagreeing with the political direction Los Angeles is leaning in, Wilson decided to transition into creating political content to be a voice for conservative Californians who may not want to reveal themselves.
Chrisley speaks during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Isabella Brown, Pearson, Wilson and Xavaier DuRousseau of PragerU
In total there were about 30 influencers. Sean Mike Kelly (left), host of Digital Social Hour, has more than 11 million followers on Instagram
Former Maryland congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik poses with DuRousseau
“Basically what I’m trying to do is help everyone else stand up for what they believe in, especially in the cities where we’re hit so hard,” Emily Saves America said. “And all I’m trying to do right now is build communities in Los Angeles.”
Concluding Friday’s event, Wilson said another big takeaway is the new network of conservative creators he was able to connect with.
“It’s great to be together,” he said of the group. ‘I have 20 new friends who support me and what I do.’