This Aging Republican Senator Is a TikTok Superstar

Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana is 74 years old, but he has become a huge star on TikTok. The Republican senator has nearly 750,000 followers on the app and has collected 4.8 million likes on his videos. His posts about his backyard, his dog, and even his wife's chicken salad have gone viral with millions of views. Kennedy is proving that social media fame is not just for young people.

Kennedy's videos are known for being funny and honest. In one post from June, he turned his phone's camera around to show viewers his backyard. He warned people not to walk on his lawn because his dog had left 'poo' in the grass. That single video got more than 1 million views on TikTok.

One of his most popular videos has 3 million views and 478,000 likes. In it, Kennedy shared the recipe for his wife Becky's chicken salad, setting out a jar of salad and two slices of white bread on his kitchen counter. Then he joked, 'This chicken salad is better than sex. Not really, but you get the point.'

Kennedy also introduced his followers to his 9-year-old dog, Charlie. Charlie is part Maltese and part Terrier, and he was once owned by a person experiencing homelessness. Kennedy said Charlie acts like a doorbell whenever the delivery driver shows up, and that video earned 235,000 likes on TikTok.

Experts say Kennedy is popular because people find him real and easy to relate to. April Eichmeier, a professor at the University of St. Thomas, said Kennedy's funny, down-to-earth style used to only appear in weekend newspaper features 30 years ago. Now he can share that side of himself directly with millions of people, without anyone filtering his words. She said his humor is what gets people interested in his politics.

Scott Dunn, a professor at Radford University, said social media lets politicians like Kennedy build something called a parasocial relationship. That means followers feel close to Kennedy even though they have never actually met him. This kind of one-sided connection can make people feel like they know a politician personally. It is a powerful tool in modern politics.

Kennedy is the most-followed Republican senator on TikTok, but most Senate Republicans avoid the app. Some lawmakers wanted to ban TikTok because it is owned by a Chinese company. Among Republicans, only Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz have verified TikTok accounts, and neither has many followers. Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey is the most-followed U.S. senator overall on TikTok, with 1.7 million followers.

Some of Kennedy's most-quoted lines come from TV interviews on cable news. On Fox News, he once said, 'I'm not saying you're the dumbest person in the world, but you better hope the dumbest person in the world doesn't die.' He has also joked, 'God, please give me patience, because if you give me strength, I'm going to need bail money.' Lines like these spread quickly online and have helped turn him into an internet sensation.

Kennedy was not always a Republican. He was a Democrat for many years and served five terms as Louisiana's state treasurer before switching parties in 2007. He lost two Senate races before winning in 2016, the same year Donald Trump was elected president, and in 2022 he won reelection by nearly 45 percentage points.

Some people think Kennedy could run for president in 2028. He told a TV host that he has not ruled it out, even joking about it with a reference to an old country song. He also wrote a book called 'How to Test Negative for Stupid: And Why Washington Never Will,' which became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. Whether or not he runs for president, his social media fame is already making him one of the most talked-about names in politics.