Inside the world of Gen Z political influencers, where the money is messy, but the work keeps coming

Maria Comstock didn’t own a phone until she was eighteen. She had a million followers by the time of her next birthday.

Social media users and eventually political campaigns were drawn to her “Point of View”-style films about romance, politics, and the job because they were accessible. What started out as a hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a career.

However, as Comstock and others will attest, the work of a Gen Z political influencer turns out to be a complex and chaotic business.

All of a media executive’s duties may include filming, production, and publishing. The customers may be picky. There is frequently a competitive attitude. The salary fluctuates. Additionally, the party you support may still lose the election.

“Everyone is a content creator in this day and age,” says Comstock, a 24-year-old who is assisting Democrats with her digital proficiency. Political labor is “hard to define both legally, on campaigns, in payment systems, and it’s just a new world that’s ever, ever evolving – and it gets messy.

According to Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, about 50 million Gen Z members will be able to cast ballots this November, making it a crucial base for both parties to win. Those born between 1997 and 2012 are referred to as Generation Z, or simply Gen Z.

Democrats are extending their efforts with influencers and drawing in an increasing number of social media stars, according to content creators and experts, following President Donald Trump and Republicans’ notable gains with young voters in 2024 through their domination of nontraditional media. Republicans, meanwhile, are moving on with a strategy that has previously proven effective.

“Whether we like it or not, influencers are not going away, and they play a big, big role in how we make sense of politics,” stated Jess Rauchberg, a professor of digital culture at Seton Hall University. “I believe we can now say that influencers sell us politics as well.”

However, according to around a dozen influencers who talked with CNN, becoming a professional political influencer requires navigating a new media sector with few laws, a bewildering assortment of payment arrangements, and constantly shifting political alliances. “Authenticity” is crucial. It is debatable whether or not to reveal payments that could compromise that legitimacy.

Influence for hire

Not all well-known political influencers make content creation their primary source of income; for some, it’s just a hobby or a supplement to more traditional careers.

In the six years after he began sharing election-related content, Harry Sisson has made it his full-time career.

Sisson, now 23, started making videos endorsing then-President Joe Biden on social media to sway the Democratic vote before he was even old enough to cast a ballot.

“Like any other teen, I was in my basement during Covid,” he remembers. Everything was shut down, so I was browsing social media when I noticed other young people discussing politics, including Donald Trump and Joe Biden. And I simply believed that I could succeed as well.

After gaining two million TikTok followers, prominent Democrats show interest in him. Last year, Trump shared an AI video showing him spilling sewage from a jet on Sisson and other demonstrators at a No Kings event.

In order to find content for his YouTube channel, TikTok, Instagram, and “the whole nine yards,” Sisson now wakes up and “immediately scrolls the news.” Like other well-known influencers, his personal life has been closely examined and his appearances are vetted by his management business. He was questioned by UK broadcaster Piers Morgan in March 2025 after it was revealed that he had asked several women to sext him. (Sisson has expressed regret for his actions, but he has denied any wrongdoing.)

A well-known conservative influencer and even earlier pioneer, CJ Pearson, tells the widely shared tale of how, at the age of twelve, he began sharing political content in 2015 after receiving a camcorder for Christmas. He was already interested in politics, but he had “never made a YouTube video before in my life” when he made the decision to film himself vehemently defending Rudy Giuliani and denouncing then-President Barack Obama. After publishing, he “got 2 million views overnight.

Those with years of expertise in the field say that letting go and, as Pearson phrased it, “let creators cook” is a key component of success.

Comstock, who currently has almost 2 million followers on Instagram and TikTok, joked, “If you have a script, buy an ad, if you want a story, hire an influencer.

Certain political alliances are more successful than others. Sisson stated, “There are definitely some Democrats out there who are very particular.” “They want to know the format and questions in advance. “They want to see a final cut and things like that, which can rather diminish the authenticity that leads to success.

According to Comstock’s experience, creating political content carries some dangers, such as alienating consumer brands that compensate some of these influencers for nonpolitical content. She didn’t receive a commercial deal for six months after blogging in favor of Harris, according to Comstock. Some brands claimed that her message “no longer aligned with our values.

But according to left-leaning creative Aidan Kohn-Murphy, creating political content has gotten less dangerous in recent years. He stated that “we’re reaching crazy sums of money” But according to left-leaning creative Aidan Kohn-Murphy, creating political content has gotten less dangerous in recent years. He stated that “we’re reaching crazy sums of money” for some.

Who is paying whom?

One of the most difficult problems in the influence game is pay.

In a typical paid gig, a campaign will get in touch with creators or their agents (many of whom have management) to suggest “deliverables,” which could be videos uploaded to Instagram or TikTok or appearances at events.

A agreement could be as simple as a fixed cost for services, or it could get very intricate. Paying a media management or consulting firm to hire influencers is one of the most popular payment structures for political campaigns.

One business supported by Democratic supporters gives stipends to “pro-democracy” artists so they may post more and increase their following.

Saurav Ghosh, the head of federal campaign finance reform at the watchdog Campaign Legal Center, claims that political funding for content providers “is just growing by leaps.”

However, there aren’t many safeguards or openness.

Although not every political content that is uploaded is paid for, posters are not legally obligated to reveal whether they received payment for a piece of political content from a campaign or another source.

Although they are not required to register as lobbyists, many creators who post in favor of candidates also do so for particular sectors or causes. Additionally, it is challenging to find out where and how much money is being sent to them.

According to Ghosh, “influencers will occasionally provide a disclaimer (about being paid), and sometimes they won’t because there isn’t a clear legal requirement.” “So, in terms of transparency, voters who see that kind of content are left on their own.

Some of their financial arrangements were disclosed by creators who spoke with CNN.

Comstock’s compensation was based on a reward structure when it was engaged by a marketing firm used by a pro-Kamala Harris PAC. She told CNN that winning “most views” or “best messaging” over other videos earned you $2,500.

The post for which she earned the $2,500 is not labeled as sponsored content, despite the fact that she occasionally discloses paid work. She claimed this was unnecessary because no one wrote the script and the compensation was not specifically for the video but rather for reaching a large audience.

Sisson told CNN that a number of his deals are subject to nondisclosure agreements, even though he disclosed that one Planned Parenthood campaign paid him $800 for a post and that he views even $1,000 to $2,000 as a cheap fee. He responded that it relied on the NDA, which he claimed was customary in the profession, when asked if this meant he couldn’t reveal how much he was paid or who was paying. CNN was unable to locate any content on Sisson’s social media streams that was identified as paid for by Planned Parenthood, despite the fact that he discloses paid connections with consumer businesses.

After being employed by the Bahamas government, Pearson submitted documentation under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in April. The energy organization is tagged in other work he has completed, such as an endorsement for solar energy, but it is not recognized as compensated. He claims that he is “educating my audience about issues that I already care about” rather than engaging in lobbying.

“I’m not going to call Congressmen and say, ‘Hey, let’s pass this. “Let’s make this happen,” he remarked. He is compensated by organizations that “support the work I’m already doing.

Conspiracy can be encouraged by a lack of regulations and clarity, and the world of political influence is often ablaze with rumors or dispute over purported puppet masters.

Some of them are untrue. “I can’t count the number of times I’ve been informed that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) pays me,” Sisson adds. “I’d love to be paid by the DNC; that would be great,” he replied.

However, Sisson and the DNC informed CNN that the influencer has never received payment from the organization.

Some end up being embarrassing. For example, Influenceable, a conservative influencer management company, was accused of receiving talking lines from the American Beverage Association, a claim the trade association refuted. The posts were posted by a number of influencers who expressed regret for the endorsements’ lack of sincerity.

Uncomfortable questions are also raised by certain circumstances. For instance, Tenet Media, which collaborated with Republican-aligned influencers to create videos for its accounts on various social media platforms, was allegedly secretly funded by Russian money to spread pro-Kremlin propaganda, according to the US Justice Department’s 2024 indictment of two Russian operatives. Tenet Media accounts ceased to release videos following the indictment, but the operatives were never taken into custody.

Additionally, Chorus, a nonprofit organization that has worked to find and develop left-leaning influencers, was the focus of intense controversy last year due to allegations that it was receiving funding from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a major source of so-called “dark” money for liberal organizations that is exempt from disclosure requirements. A Republican-led House committee is looking into the group, which Chorus and other supporters have described as politically motivated. Chorus told CNN that it has not received cash from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which provided administrative and legal support during its initial launch.

Ashley St. Clair, a former MAGA social media star who now criticizes the Republican Party and the movement, said she believes the sector has a predatory aspect.

“It corrupts the people you’re paying, in addition to bastardizing the audience,” she claimed. “The economy is quite difficult. People find it difficult to refuse money, thus in order to force them to do so, they are presented with a chance that would enable them to provide for their family. That isn’t correct, in my opinion.

Beyond politics

However, the distinctions between sponsored speech and volunteer advocacy, earnestness and sales, politicking and simple blogging have become increasingly hazy, in part because, according to content creators, the most effective way to influence politics is frequently to avoid discussing politics at all.

For instance, “President Trump would go on (podcasts) with Andrew Schultz and Theo Von, and he would not discuss politics.” Pearson contrasted what he perceived as Trump’s astuteness in fully embracing unconventional media with Harris’s reluctance to do so during the 2024 election, saying, “He would talk about his cool stories from being, like, the king of Manhattan, and he would talk about the crazy cool life that he’s led.

Gen-Z political Influencers and political observers claim that Democrats have been on the defensive in 2026, but they are becoming more aware of what could be effective messaging.

“I think it’s important for us to have people who are talking about culture and lifestyle have a seat at the table as well,” stated Lauren Kapp, a former member of the Harris campaign who currently runs Luminary Strategies, a Gen Z-led digital firm that manages social media for campaigns, political figures, and organizations.

According to Comstock, “there are so many different stories you can tap to platforms people already have.” For instance, a content-posting single mother is “a really interesting surrogate, because I’m sure she’s been uniquely impacted by childcare costs, by health care costs, by all these different things.”