A freshman member of Congress talked about his TikTok success and adjusting to his new role at the Elliott School of International Affairs Thursday.
Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-NC) discussed using social media to address constituents and said there is a desire for politicians to be candid with the people they represent. GW College Democrats hosted the event as part of their yearly speaker event that was moderated by their president, Sebastian Hartley.
Jackson has gained national attention from his more than 1.8 million followers on TikTok, where he posts videos that give viewers an inside look at Congress, like the Congressional response to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, his thoughts on the March hearing about TikTok and a response to the April federal court ruling limiting access to the mifepristone, a drug commonly used in medication abortions and to treat miscarriages.
Jackson said he self-produces his TikToks, which he said are filmed with a professional camera and recording equipment. He said his social media presence has inspired “a few” members of Congress to film similar videos.
“I think that’s great,” Jackson said. “I’ve had some members come up to me and say, ‘Hey, what kind of camera do you use?’ And I tell them, and they’re, like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna buy that kind of camera,’ and I’m like, there’s a lot more to it than that but okay. All right. Give it a shot.”
Jackson served in the North Carolina Senate for eight years before running for U.S. Congress in 2022. When he first entered the state legislature, Jackson said he met one-on-one with all 33 Republican state senators over “several” months to build rapport and that he could “trace back” every bill he passed to those conversations.
“The way I would make friends is I would walk around, and I would say, so tell me about the moon landing,” Jackson said. “It worked every time. I did that until some guy said, ‘This is the second time you’ve asked.’”
As a U.S. Rep., Jackson said he has been going door-to-door in the Longworth House Office Building and having conversations with congresspeople he hadn’t met yet. He said he started a friendship with Rep. John James (R-MI) by complimenting James for a political ad he ran during his 2022 race.
“I saw him on the House floor on my second day there, and I walked right over, and I said, ‘That was a really cool ad,’” Jackson said. “It was great, and now we’re friends.”
Jackson said he’s found a smaller community within Congress by finding similarities with other members. Jackson, who serves as trial counsel for the North Carolina Army National Guard, said the number of representatives currently serving in the military is low, so he decided to reach out to those members, like fellow freshman Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA).
Jackson said talking to Nunn resulted in them introducing a bipartisan bill to expand parental leave in the military. The bill is the only bill Jackson has introduced since joining Congress in January.
“There aren’t a whole lot of people who are still serving, so I made a point to reach out to those people and say, hey, we have this in common,” Jackson said.
There are 82 veterans in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Jackson said he enlisted after the September 11 attacks and served in the Kandahar Province during the Afghanistan War.
Jackson said one big difference between being a state senator and a member of Congress is the amount of scheduling requests he gets. He said his office goes through “50 to 60” requests a week while as a state senator, Jackson said he had to “make things happen” to get invited to events.
“That’s a totally new part of my life,” Jackson said. “Doing stuff like this on a daily basis, and the number of people to meet with this is a totally new part of it.”
