“I’m With Her” is a political slogan adopted by the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign that transformed into an enduring meme. The original slogan made use of the ‘H’ in ‘Hillary’ with the arrow pointing to the right or “forward” in place of the horizontal line in the letter and adorned many bumper stickers and t-shirts during the 2016 election year.
Additionally, the slogan was appropriated by jokesters on social media to declare their support for other women as a meme, from celebrities to anthropomorphized characters designed to appear female.
With Vice President Kamala Harris in position to become the second-ever presidential nominee for either party in the U.S. in 2024, the phrase is making a comeback.
“I’m With Her” meme origins
The slogan and iconic design of the campaign merchandise was created by graphic designer Ida Woldemichael in 2015. She was working for the Clinton campaign and submitted her design to a bumper sticker contest among the staff meant to drum up ideas for slogans and iconography that would speak to supporters.
According to Woldemichael, “I’m with her” made perfect sense for a campaign fueled by excitement about the idea of America’s first female president.
“I started with some obvious stuff, ‘Honk for Hillary,’ some fun uses of the ‘H’ [Michael Bierut’s Hillary logo], but then when Jennifer and I looked at the sketches, ‘I’m With Her’ really stood out from the set,” she told Fast Company. “It was so simple, yet so unmistakable, since there was only one ‘her’ in the race.”
“I’m With Her” memes take off
Within a couple of months, people were chanting the phrase at campaign events and the hashtag was taking off on social media platforms. Clinton posted a photo of herself with Katy Perry under the tag on October 24, 2015, using the singer’s popularity to help spread the slogan.
As time went on, more individuals, celebrities, and political figures announced their support for Clinton using the phrase “I’m with her” or the corresponding hashtag. On June 9, 2016, former President Barack Obama officially endorsed her in a video, speaking the slogan aloud.
Related slogans
In February of 2016, as liberals and leftists were forming a clear split between Clinton and fellow presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a Reddit user came up with the hashtag #ImWithJew, referencing Sanders’ Jewish heritage. It’s unclear whether this user was a Sanders supporter or just a troll.
Later that year, when it became obvious that Clinton was going to defeat her Democratic rival in the primaries and secure the nomination, Sanders fans begrudgingly accepted her as the candidate they would support against Donald Trump. On June 8, in a now-deleted tweet, Twitter user @MadBlackThot posted the first known usage of the hashtag “GirlIGuessImWithHer.”
July 2024 “I’m with her” meme resurgence
On July 21, 2024, President Joe Biden announced on Twitter that he was dropping out of the presidential race against Trump following recommendations by many high-level Democrats. The presumption of nomination quickly fell upon Harris, being his Vice President, and energy around the idea of a woman for President was reborn.
On that same day, actor Ken Jeong posted a photo of himself posing with Harris with the slogan and three heart emojis in red, white, and blue.
Despite this surge of support, polling on Harris shows that she is neck-and-neck with Trump on approval and potential votes in November. FiveThirtyEight polls show her with a lower disapproval rating at 51 percent to Trump’s 53 percent, but also a slightly lower approval rating.
Polls of likely voters show Harris lagging behind Trump most of the time, but very often not outside of the margin of error. She also appears to be doing better than Biden was in this respect, with the Washington Post analysis measuring her at 1.5 points behind the Republican nominee to Biden’s 1.9 points.
‘I was one of the 44,000’
A related meme emerging from the sudden Kamala Harris campaign references a Zoom call attended by 44,000 people and hosted by the political group Win With Black Women on the night of July 21. According to reports, the attendees raised over $1.5 million for Harris in just three hours.
The moment was so powerful, particularly for Black women, that the phrase “I was one of the 44,000” took off on social media and can be seen on campaign images for Harris already, as well as in joke tweets.
Meme examples:
Related memes:
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- Kamala Harris cop meme: 2024 edition
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