The memes, merch, and symbols that tell the story of a historic campaign
The 2024 campaign was once assumed to be a 2020 rematch, but it’s played out unlike any before, with the first criminal conviction of a former U.S. president, two foiled assassination attempts, and an eleventh-hour change on the top of the incumbent party’s ticket.
The campaign has played out in images, memes, merch, and symbols. Here are 12 of the most memorable.
Harris-Walz Camo hat
For two straight presidential campaigns, Republicans have had the most recognizable piece of merch in the form of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hat. In 2024, Democrats finally got branded headwear of their own in a big way after Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a camo hat aficionado, joined the ticket.
The initial run of 3,000 Harris-Walz camo hats sold out in just 30 minutes, racking up nearly $1 million in sales in a day. It’s coded merch that signifies a knowing wink to pop culture for young supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris and fans of Chappell Roan (who sold her own “Midwest Princess” hat, which to rural and red state Harris voters who aren’t spinning “Good Luck, Babe” is just a cool hat). Like the Harris campaign’s broader efforts to build a bipartisan coalition, the camo hat has wide appeal, from “Midwestern dads to Brooklyn gays,” according to Vogue.
Trump assassination attempt photos
In an election year filled with twists and turns, the failed attempt on Trump’s life over the summer and the striking images it produced are among the most defining of the campaign. The photos of Trump, fist raised, with blood on his face and a U.S. flag in the background, showed up almost immediately on campaign T-shirts, which polling suggested was a smart move. A July YouGov poll found voters were sympathetic to Trump because of the shooting; more than 6 in 10 said they thought the former president showed courage and that the attack would make him more popular.
Brat green
Since she’s been in office, Harris has visited a local record shop and listened to Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam” at the Stonewall Inn with Andy Cohen for last year’s Pride. Her love of music continued into her presidential campaign, from her rally walkout song, Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” to her campaign’s playful embrace on social media of “brat green,” the color of the album art for Charli XCX’s Brat after the singer tweeted “kamala IS brat.” It’s a bright color the campaign has used in fundraising ads, and like the Harris-Walz camo hat, it works whether or not you recognize the pop culture reference.
Trump’s mug shot
Trump’s mug shot—taken in Georgia in August 2023 when he was booked for his election interference case—was a first for a former U.S. president. Rather than shy away from it, Trump’s campaign merchandised it, natch. One design reimagined the image in the style of Shepard Fairey’s “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama. Democrats made their own use of the infamous photo: Last week, the Democratic National Committee ran full-page newspaper ads that used the mug shot to illustrate that Trump is “unfit to lead.
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Harris-Walz logo
The Harris-Walz logo broke from more than a decade of Democratic presidential design. It’s not an iconic Obama “O” logo. Or a red-arrow Hillary “H” logo. Or even a “Biden bacon” logo. It’s a simple wordmark. Political design is inherently rushed, and that was even more true for the designers who had to pivot from Biden to Harris, rebranding the running mate for the top of the ticket in record time.
In the final version of the logo, Harris is spelled out in an adapted version of Sans Plomb, a tall sans-serif typeface that mimics the effect of the tall type used in Harris’s 2020 campaign, itself an homage to the colorful campaign materials used for Shirley Chisholm, the Black U.S. congresswoman from New York who ran for president in 1972. Sans Plomb is inspired by retro French road signs, so it’s easy to read at a distance.
The MAGA Box
For his third consecutive run for president, Trump’s campaign logo was updated ever so slightly to incorporate his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. But the basics remain the same: his last name inside a box with five stars at the top. The “MAGA Box” has become more popular than ever as a design trope; it even made its way into a Biden campaign initiative raising awareness of Project 2025.
2024 MAGA hats
The Trump campaign proved the nearly 10-year-old MAGA hat still has mileage in 2024, with new iterations, like the meta Little Red MAGA hat that shows the image of a MAGA hat on a hat; the black-on-black Dark MAGA hat; and the Elon Musk MAGA hat that spells out Trump’s longtime slogan in blackletter font. The classic red remains a favorite at rallies.
TIME magazine’s “Panic” covers
Time has a talent for building narratives over successive covers, something it did for its August 5 “Panic” cover showing Biden walking off the page following his poor debate performance, and its follow-up photo illustration for when he dropped out of the presidential race, showing Harris stepping onto the cover behind him.
The blue checkmark
Back when it was called Twitter, the social network’s blue-and-white verification checkmark badge meant someone was who they said they were. Now on Musk’s X, it means you paid for it. The changing meaning of the verified badge is one visible sign of a larger shift. Social media companies have backed away from the content moderation of four years ago, while Musk has used X to openly push his own political views. Trump’s social network designed red checkmarks for users, and even the name of the site, “Truth Social,” is suggestive of the power of digital media to shape narratives.
Nebraska Blue Dot signs
One of the most effective political symbols of the campaign was also its most simple. Democrats in Omaha, Nebraska, showed their support for Harris with blue dot signs to symbolize being a “blue” dot in a “red” state and their state’s rare election rules that split Nebraska’s Electoral College votes. Republicans in Omaha responded with signs showing a red map of Nebraska or red dot with yellow Trump hair.
Trump’s photo stunts
Like an episode of Undercover Boss, Trump showed up to work the fry cooker and pose for photos at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s late last month. Weeks later, he showed up to a photo op wearing an orange safety vest while he climbed into a Trump-Vance-branded garbage truck. The images play up Trump as a working-class hero as only the former reality TV star could.
Harris campaign Sphere ad
In the 1800s, U.S. political campaigns sometimes used oversize slogan balls to draw attention to their candidates. The Harris campaign’s Las Vegas Sphere ad is like a modern version in wraparound LED. The Sphere got its first-ever political ad in the form of a 90-second animation from the Harris campaign calling on Nevadans to vote by Election Day. It’s the largest single political ad ever, and it loops irregularly on the 580,000-square-foot surface slotted between ads for an upcoming Eagles concert, a rotating baseball celebrating the L.A. Dodgers’ World Series win, and other animations.
