{"id":1746,"date":"2026-05-13T13:32:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegorelocationnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/casual-relatable-on-theme-steyer-campaign-courts-influencers-for-10-a-video\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T13:32:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:32:03","slug":"casual-relatable-on-theme-steyer-campaign-courts-influencers-for-10-a-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegorelocationnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/casual-relatable-on-theme-steyer-campaign-courts-influencers-for-10-a-video\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Casual, relatable, on-theme\u2019: Steyer campaign courts influencers for $10 a video"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Isaiah \u201cZay Dante\u201d Washington normally posts about pop culture and sports to his 1.8 million TikTok followers as @zayydante. His most viral videos include skits about dueling Drake and Kendrick Lamar tracks and parodies amplifying more serious lyrical messages in popular party music.<\/p>\n

Read more Sacramento council restores some youth violence prevention programs, pool funds<\/a><\/p>\n

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In March, he briefly pivoted by interviewing governor candidate Tom Steyer, asking the billionaire climate change activist to square his populist platform with his wealth and how he intended to fight his fellow patricians knowing \u201chow capitalism has scorned young people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Steyer\u2019s campaign paid Washington $10,000 to post to Instagram, YouTube and TikTok under his former handle @relatableisaiah, which now links to @zayydante, per campaign expenditures. According to a strategy memo obtained by The Sacramento Bee, Steyer\u2019s campaign has approached other content creators to boost him online for $10 per video, with more promised if they reach a certain threshold of views.<\/p>\n

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With the decline of legacy media, campaigns are increasingly turning to social media personalities like Washington to get their message out and humanize them to voters. These online trend makers have a veneer of authenticity, but this new form of political outreach comes with a catch: it\u2019s almost completely unregulated, meaning viewers have no idea if creators are being paid.<\/p>\n

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There are few state or federal laws specifically about political influencers. The California Legislature passed a law in 2023 requiring a person to disclose if they\u2019ve been paid by a committee to support or oppose a candidate or ballot initiative online or on an app, which Washington did not.<\/p>\n

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Washington said in his video, which had 250,000 views as of Tuesday, that it was \u201cnot an endorsement\u201d of Steyer. He did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

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Steyer\u2019s campaign did not say how many creators it has approached or how many agreed to produce videos.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCreators make their living generating content. The campaign believes in compensating people for their time and work product and has paid creators to generate content,\u201d campaign spokesperson Kevin Liao said in a statement. \u201cPayments for creator content are disclosed in campaign finance reports, and we notify creators we directly work with of their disclosure requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2018If it looks like a robot made it… don\u2019t use it\u2019<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Steyer is one of the leading candidates in the governor\u2019s race ahead of the June 2 primary. Polls put him in contention with rival Democrats Xavier Becerra and Katie Porter and Republican contender Steve Hilton.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s unclear if other governor candidates have paid for content creators. None of the seven other major Democrats or the two Republican contenders reported directly paying creators or management companies, according to a search of campaign filings.<\/p>\n

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Platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook ban or put restrictions on political advertising. The Fair Political Practices Commission has \u201c\u201d influencers to tag a political candidate\u2019s committee in their post so that voters can determine who paid for it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMany voters are critical of Tom Steyer because of his billionaire status, lack of experience and previous investments. Rather than pretending that these things don\u2019t exist, acknowledge and relate to voters\u2019 concerns and explain why you still believe Steyer is the strongest candidate despite them,\u201d the Steyer memo read. It asks creators to post three to four videos weekly without mentioning him or the governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis content should still be related to policies he supports, for instance, videos about abolishing ICE, taxing the rich, AI regulation, climate change, free universal education, ending corporate influence in politics, etc. This will help your content reach more audiences and build audience trust,\u201d the memo said.<\/p>\n

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The memo instructs creators who sign on to make new social media accounts under usernames that reflect their names or a nickname, avoiding brands, random numbers or anything that looks like spam. They then upload them for approval to the app SideShift, which recruits creators to make content for companies like the Kalshi prediction market, Paramount and the Wasserman Group.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf it looks like a robot made it\u2026 don\u2019t use it,\u201d the memo read. \u201cKeep your bio casual, relatable, and on-theme for the campaign, but do NOT mention Tom Steyer directly \u2014> this helps to avoid the account looking like a bot starting out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The memo links back to Steyer\u2019s platform on his website, and lists talking points to emphasize, like his plans to tax wealthy people and jail rogue ICE agents and liabilities to downplay, like his lack of experience in public office, his former hedge fund\u2019s links to private prisons, and his \u201canemic\u201d support among women and people under 45.<\/p>\n

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The memo lists areas to target Becerra, like his taking donations from Chevron, his former aide\u2019s arrest in a federal corruption probe, and his vote for the 1994 crime bill while in Congress.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBecerra is surging with Latinos, which is to be expected but we\u2019d like to make a dent here,\u201d the memo read. \u201cCalifornia African Americans: This is a winnable target for Tom, he can make a lot of inroads here so want to double down there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Newsom goes hyper over a partial solution to the costly California diaper | Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

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The memo said Steyer\u2019s support needed to be stronger in Los Angeles and his San Francisco homebase to \u201cdrive primary votes in California. The more liberal the target (liberal, not leftist), the better. Think Pod Save America listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The guide gives recent examples of pro-Steyer videos from influencers like @sandyvotes, @talkingwithsavannah, and @jessica.moore371 as inspiration for other creators to emulate.<\/p>\n

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Serabeth Mullaney, a brand and community lead in San Francisco who posts as @synapticglories, said SideShift approached her last week about creating content for the Steyer campaign. She was asked to post about Steyer at least one to three times a day on both Instagram and TikTok for $10 per unique video, with promises of payment by the end of May, according to a screenshot of a message from a SideShift manager.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf interested, simply respond with \u2018California\u2019 and we will send you a contract to join the campaign and submit your social handles,\u201d the text read. \u201cYou can begin posting as soon as your account is warmed up!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mullaney told The Bee she declined the offer, calling it a \u201cpredatory tactic\u201d that targets people who are new to user-generated content and are \u201cdesperate\u201d for money but who may not agree with Steyer\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs a professional in social media, I am seeing a lot of videos using almost word for word scripts about candidates that are not disclosing they are paid for ads,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWe saw it happen in the 2024 presidential campaign. Both sides paid creators to endorse but not disclose they were paid, yet the whole thing got swept under the rug.\u201d<\/p>\n

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