Amidst a changing media landscape, Connecticut’s Senate Caucuses are posting videos in an effort to communicate directly with residents — and showcase their personalities.
Elijah Hurewitz-Ravitch
Staff Reporter
Olha Yarynich, Contributing Photographer
As a rambunctious banjo strums in the background, Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff sits at his desk, typing away. Three text overlays appear: “Expanding Access to Abortion,” “Protecting Physicians & Patients from Out of State Seeking Care” and “Ensuring Your RIGHT to Reproductive Healthcare Can NEVER Be Taken Away.” In the final second of the video, he turns to the camera and mouths along with Beyoncé: “This ain’t Texas.”
No, it certainly is not — this is the official TikTok account of the Connecticut Senate Democrats.
The account, which has been posting videos since August 2022, is a small part of the caucus’ effort to connect with constituents. Amid steep decreases in Americans’ news consumption and in their trust in mainstream media, this account and others like it seem to encapsulate elected officials’ need to adapt to a new information environment — one dominated by scrolling, likes and, apparently, Beyoncé.
Kevin Couglin, the Senate Democrats communications director, said that the caucus joined the app in 2022 in order to “communicate with people where they are, and there are a lot of people on TikTok.”
“It is always best to utilize a trending meme or sound,” he added.
These accounts provide Connecticut politicians with a direct line of communication with their constituents. They need not contend with questions from reporters; instead, they are at the mercy of the infamous TikTok algorithm.
The Connecticut Senate Democrats account, which has over 5,600 followers, features a combination of produced videos, clips from the Connecticut Network, or CT-N — a C-SPAN analogue that covers state government — and day-in-the-life-style vlogs.
The Senate GOP account, meanwhile, is substantially smaller, with about half as many followers as its counterpart across the digital aisle. It often features footage from press conferences and clips from local TV stations, as well as direct addresses from the Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding. It tends to take a more antagonistic posture toward the Senate Democrats than the Democrats do toward the Republicans on their own account.
“The Democratic Party here in the state is not giving a lot of love to ratepayers throughout the state,” Harding laments in a video published on Valentine’s Day that is focused on an electricity bill reduction plan.
The communications director of the Senate Republican Caucus, Laura Parete, explained that the account gets engagement by spotlighting “the issues that really matter to the people of Connecticut” like the cost of living and inflation.
“We really want to show the people of Connecticut, we’re working for them. We’re listening to them,” Parete said. “They’re getting that one-on-one, direct communication, as opposed to having a media outlet in the middle. I’m not saying anything negative about traditional media — we have a lot of wonderful reporters up here at the Capitol — but I think sometimes it’s great to hear the message directly from the people that are working on the policy.”
The basic tone of the Democratic account, meanwhile, has less to do with specific legislative efforts and more to do with rhetoric. Its most popular video, which has been liked by 70,000 users, features an impassioned speech by State Senator Cathy Osten denouncing immigrant deportations.
The reproductive healthcare video was posted in early 2024; this year, Duff has leaned more into irony. In a video from earlier this month, following clips of President Donald Trump promising to lower grocery prices, Duff appears in a bathrobe preparing “to make breakfast in bed” for his wife. Reaching into a closet filled with office supplies, he pulls out two eggs.
“Looks like we have everything we need, and with the price of eggs these days, you really can’t be too careful,” he quips.
TikTok has had a rocky history in the United States. Because of national security concerns, in early 2023, the platform was banned from all devices managed by the House of Representatives and by federal agencies. By 2024, 39 states had banned the app from government devices, and individual caucuses have acknowledged threats as well — the California Senate Republicans, for instance, deactivated their account in early 2023.
In Connecticut, however, while a bill to ban the app from government devices was approved by the General Assembly’s Government Administration and Elections Committee, it died in the State Senate.
At present, following President Donald Trump’s vow to “save” TikTok — which may have been influenced by his own “very good experience” on the platform — its future is uncertain.
“This is social media, so everything is always changing, and I am sure there’ll be another platform to learn, manage, and communicate on soon enough,” Couglin said.
A recent survey found that over 43 percent of Connecticut residents support a ban on TikTok — the second highest out of any state in the nation.
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This article was originally published by a yaledailynews.com . Read the Original article here. .