Malynda Hale angled her iPhone toward her face and filmed a quick selfie video as she headed over to the first day of the Democratic National Convention.

“I’m already annoyed and it’s not even 8:30. Nobody knows anything and this is very confusing,” the 38-year-old influencer says in the clip, which she immediately uploaded to her 53,000 Instagram followers. “I’m gonna give you the real, unfiltered version of what it’s like to be at the DNC.”

Hale, a singer and actress from Northridge, is one of more than 200 social media influencers who received credentials — a first for the DNC — to attend the four-day convention. In granting digital content creators access to delegates, studio space and events, Kamala Harris’ campaign hopes they will use their vast online followings to promote the party’s message and galvanize young voters, who showed deep apathy about President Biden’s bid for reelection.

“They obviously view us as a direct line to this demographic, because a lot of them are bypassing traditional media to see what the influencers and the public figures and creators that they follow are saying about political events,” Hale said in an interview with The Times. “It’s a great idea to kind of use us as, like, a democratic liaison to certain generations.”

Since arriving in Chicago over the weekend, Hale has been unleashing a quick-fire barrage of Instagram stories, reels, grid photos and TikTok videos, capturing the glam and grind of being a chosen influencer.

In more than 50 posts uploaded to her social channels on Monday alone, she chronicled her difficulties picking up her badge, the scene at the creator lounge at the United Center and her view from the arena floor before the evening’s speakers took the stage (“Our actual seats are in the nosebleeds,” she says into the camera).

The trip to Chicago for Hale, whose following swelled during the pandemic when she began speaking out about social justice issues, was sponsored by Stand Up America; the nonprofit organization paid for flights for her and four family members and covered the cost of their Airbnb.

As Harris has kept her distance from the mainstream news media, the decision to open the door to influencers is a reflection of her campaign’s belief that social media creators are an important conduit for getting its message to voters.

A few were even invited to make speeches to rally support for Harris, sharing the same spotlight reserved for her and her running mate Tim Walz, as well as powerful Democrats including Barack and Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

On the sidelines of the convention Monday, influencers were provided a special pavilion and luxury box. Democratic aides brought officials over to a “blue carpet” to be interviewed by the social media stars. In the convention hall, some had positioned ring lights to better capture themselves during the more marquee events.

L.A. drag queen and social media influencer BenDeLaCreme at the United Center on Monday.

(Noah Bierman / Los Angeles Times)

One of the most recognizable social media personalities on the blue carpet was drag queen BenDeLaCreme. “You see how I come dressed for the DNC? Very demure, very mindful,” she said in an Instagram reel, giving her 1.1 million followers a close-up look at her towering bouffant, dramatic makeup and swirly black, white and pink dress.

BenDeLaCreme, who lives in Los Angeles, came to the convention with Drag PAC. The political action committee was founded by drag queens “to bring awareness to Gen Z voters of how important their voice really is, and try to engage more of Gen Z in this year’s election,” she said in an interview with The Times.

And appearing at the DNC was an opportunity to draw attention to the personal causes she supports.

“The drag community is also here to protect our trans siblings,” said BenDeLaCreme, who spoke on a panel hosted by the LGBTQ+ Caucus earlier in the day. “We in the queer community know that we can’t go anywhere without protecting reproductive rights, without protecting people of color.”

Actress Charlize Theron, left, and activist Deja Foxx at the Global Citizen Festival at Central Park in New York last year. Foxx was one of the influencers invited to speak at the DNC this week.

(Yuki Iwamura / Associated Press)

The DNC’s speaker lineup on Monday night featured 24-year-old Deja Foxx, a Columbia University graduate who spoke about reproductive rights, an issue that has given Democrats ammunition against the Republicans after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned federal abortion protections.

“For young people, this is a fight for our future,” said Foxx, who has more than 141,000 followers on TikTok and 54,000 on Instagram.

The party’s outreach to prominent influencers extends beyond the DNC.

Loren Piretra, an influencer from Brentwood and chief marketing officer of creator platform Fanfix, at last week’s White House Creator Economy Conference in Washington.

(Loren Piretra)

President Biden’s administration last week hosted the first White House Creator Economy Conference in Washington. The one-day gathering brought together a group of digital creators and industry professionals to discuss pressing issues within the creator economy, including privacy, AI and mental health.

Loren Piretra, an influencer from Brentwood, was among those invited to attend the conference, which included time with President Biden.

“This is a massive industry, and it’s time that it’s taken seriously,” said Piretra, who is also chief marketing officer of Los Angeles creator platform Fanfix. “Creators have been able to democratize the idea of celebrity and influence, so it’s only natural that the White House wants to strengthen their connections to this important community.”

Times staff writer Noah Bierman in Chicago and Bloomberg contributed to this report.

CHICAGO – Former President Bill Clinton took the Democratic National Convention’s stage on Wednesday evening where he lauded President Biden as a modern-day George Washington who “healed our sick.”

“I do want to say one word about President Biden,” Clinton said towards the start of his speech in Chicago. “Remember, he had an improbable turn that made him president. And we were in the middle of a pandemic and an economic crash. He healed our sick, and put the rest of us back to work. And he strengthened our alliances for peace and security, stood up for Ukraine, trying desperately to get a ceasefire in the Middle East.”

“And then he did something it’s really hard for a politician to do: He voluntarily gave up political power. And George Washington knew that. And he did it. And he set the standard for us, serving two terms before it was mandatory. It helped his legacy, and it will enhance Joe Biden’s legacy,” Clinton added. 

Biden joined the DNC on Monday evening, where he delivered a speech touting his record in office while praising his vice president, Kamala Harris, after she rose to the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden exited the race last month. 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN TROLLS HARRIS, RELEASES POLICY WEBSITE FOR HER AFTER WEEKS OF SILENCE

“Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made before I became when I became our nominee, and it was the best decision I made my whole career,” Biden said. 

OBAMA LAUDS ‘BROTHER’ BIDEN AT DNC WEEKS AFTER REPORTED ROLE OUSTING HIM FOR KAMALA HARRIS

“We’ve not only gotten to know each other, we’ve become close friends. She’s tough, she’s experienced, and she has enormous integrity, enormous integrity. Her story represents the best American story.”

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton attends Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 21, 2024.  (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)

Democrats who have taken the stage across the week have praised both Biden and Harris as the newly-formed Harris-Walz ticket works to earn support from voters in the final months of the election. 

HARRIS CAMPAIGN WEBSITE STILL MISSING POLICY POSITIONS AS DNC KICKS OFF

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, clasps her hand in the air with President Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Clinton continued in his remarks that Biden is a man of compassion and courage, before switching gears to praise Harris. 

HARRIS CELEBRATES ‘CEREMONIAL’ CHICAGO DNC ROLL CALL VOTE FROM MILWAUKEE RALLY

“I want to thank him for his courage, compassion, his class, his service, his sacrifice,” he said. “Joe Biden. Thank you. And. He kept the faith, and he’s infected a lot of the rest of us.”

TOPSHOT – Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her daughter Christine Pelosi hold “We Love Joe” signs as he speaks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 19, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president at the DNC which runs from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)  (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

Clinton lauded the vice president as a politician who will represent voters no matter their political party. 

“Kamala Harris will work to solve our problems, seize our opportunities, ease our fears, and make sure every single American, however they vote, has a chance to chase their dreams,” he said. 

The DNC will wrap up on Thursday evening with Harris’ acceptance speech for the nomination. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

There’s an old political saw: You campaign in poetry and govern in prose.

That took on a more literal meaning Wednesday night as Amanda Gorman, the closest thing this country has to a celebrity poet, took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The former youth poet laureate of Los Angeles, who now holds that position at the national level, wrote a poem for the occasion. The 26-year-old Gorman gained widespread attention in 2021, when she became the youngest inaugural poet in the nation’s history and read “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of President Biden.

Her newest poem, “A Fight for Our Freedoms,” is about “a race that tests if this country / we cherish shall perish from this Earth, / And if our Earth shall perish from this country.”

Gorman did not deliver a speech. She only read the poem, and her recitation was interrupted at times by applause.

The poem attempts to reclaim words such as “freedom,” “liberty” and “patriot,” part of a vision of pluralism and empathy, instead of the “America first” message promulgated by former President Trump.

An excerpt:

We redeem this sacred scene, ready for our journey from it.

Together, we must birth this early republic

And achieve an unearthly summit.

Let us not just believe in the American dream

Let us be worthy of it.