The Viral Harris-Walz Camo Hat Is So Midwest Princess Coded, Actually
Did somebody say camo hat summer?
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a.k.a. the newest “brat” to join Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, is getting some hot new merch ahead of election day—and the internet is absolutely loving it.
As you probably know by now, Vice President (and official Democratic presidential nominee) Kamala Harris announced on Tuesday that she had chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, much to the delight of progressives and gentle-hearted midwesterners nationwide. Now, the Harris-Walz campaign has embraced yet another internet trend with open arms: camo hats.
Internet goes wild for Chappell Roan-esque Harris-Walz hat, sells out in minutes
Millennials and Gen Z-ers make up a huge voter bloc, so it’s absolutely essential that candidates, whether that be Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, or god forbid, even RFK Jr., win over the hearts of Americans between the ages of 18-43 if they have any hope of snagging the presidency. And so far—to use a little TikTok lingo here—Harris and Walz are absolutely slaying.
Their latest effort went viral Tuesday when the Harris-Walz campaign began selling camouflage trucker hats listing both of the candidates’ names in bright orange font. For those who aren’t chronically online, Walz is the internet’s new fave “midwest princess”—a nod to pop singer Chappell Roan’s debut studio album—having been born and raised in small-town Nebraska.
Hester Leyser, Director of Strategic Planning for the DNC, took to Twitter (X) to show off the new design, where she all but confirmed that the hat was, in fact, inspired by similar merch sold by Roan.
According to an official spokesperson for Team Harris (per The Washington Post), the initial run of 3 thousand hats sold out in just 30 minutes. The “Femininomenon” singer herself responded to the new merch on social media shortly after, writing, “is this real” alongside a photo of the hat. So…is this technically an endorsement?
Harris and Walz’s Gen Z marketing strategy could win Dems the election
Appealing to young voters by leaning into pop culture trends has proven successful for the Harris-Walz campaign in the past, as many responded enthusiastically to Charli XCX’s July tweet, “kamala IS brat.” As for the camo hat, Business Insider accurately dubbed it a “stroke of Gen Z marketing genius,” playing into the kind of ironic, quasi-existential humor that has so defined the social media age. Given that this wasn’t exactly Joe Biden’s strong suit, Team Harris-Walz seems to know exactly what they’re doing.
And don’t worry: Tim Walz has already modeled the new hat for us, proving again that he’s truly a man of the people. As a proud Minnesotan and someone who voted for Walz back in 2018, I’m definitely partial here, but look how precious he is!
For now, there’s been no word on whether the Harris-Walz campaign has plans to put more trucker hats into production, but given the response to the first launch, it seems inevitable that more units will go on sale soon. Only time will tell if they can keep up the momentum and mobilize brats and midwest princesses alike to the ballot boxes come November.
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