What can creators accomplish when they lobby the U.S. Senate? We’re about to find out.
A bipartisan pair of Senators — New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker and Louisiana Republican John Kennedy — have announced the Senate Creators Caucus. The brand-new entity will be a vehicle for “recognizing creators as small business owners, job engines, and culture drivers,” according to a YouTube blog post.
Sens. Booker and Kennedy kicked off the Caucus with a panel at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in D.C. The participating creators are a diverse group who represent many different corners of the creator community. YouTube vets like Jackie Aina, MatPat, Mark Vins, Shira Lazar, and Kati Morton were joined by family creators (Dr. Javoris Hollingsworth of Gracie’s Corner), podcast reps (Ian Schwartzman of the Joe Budden Network), and small business owners who have thrived online (Avery Smith of the Louisiana Crawfish Company).
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When given the floor, the assembled creators informed Booker and Kennedy about their businesses and advocated for policies that can ease headaches moving forward. A VOD of the panel can be found via C-SPAN.
The “influencer election” of 2024 proved that creators will play a pivotal role in the future of politics, but that era also revealed that many elected officials have a limited understanding of the social media ecosystem. To educate their Congressional reps while advocating for their peers, luminaries like MatPat established the Congressional Creators Caucus last year.
Since then, policymakers have taken more active roles in the creator economy. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) proposed a Creator Bill of Rights earlier this year, his colleague George Whitesides (D-CA) offered up a Congressional take on Hot Ones, and many politicians have adopted the language and mannerisms of creators, hoping to win over the youth vote in the process.
As Congress has become more aware of creator needs, it has also uncovered areas where policy updates are required. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) has set his sights on a campaign finance loophole that turns creator endorsements into an underregulated grey area.
Clearly, more conversations between creators and politicians are needed, and Senator Booker has been one of the loudest voices advocating for those discussions to take place. He and Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) hosted a summit that brought creators, journalists, and other new media voices to Capitol Hill.
The Senate Creators Caucus is the next step in the Congressional outreach plan. There is still enough time left for creators to influence the outcome of the 2026 midterms, and influencing happens to be one of the things creators do best.
