“The Gen Z electorate can make or break the election in some of our key races,” said Ashley Aylward, 26, a research manager at HIT Strategies, a Washington-based public opinion research firm focusing on youth and minority voters. The firm was started in 2019 “because we were seeing so many political operatives kind of just dismissing the emerging electorate — young people, people of color,” she said. As more of Gen Z reaches voting age, experts have advised candidates to change their strategies to appeal to new voters. Experts said social media — and TikTok specifically — are key in strategizing for the Gen Z vote in the 2022 election. Experts emphasized that Gen Z cares about authenticity and casualness; candidates can “miss the mark” when they “don’t use the language that young people do," Aylward said.

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