Campaign season is truly in full swing for the 2020 election, meaning it's time for the two front runners to start winning every vote they can from every possible demographic. One of the more niche demographics being appealed to this year? Star Trek fans. The Biden campaign recently hosted a virtual event for fans of the classic sci-fi series, including guest appearances from Patrick Stewart, George Takei, and Kate Mulgrew.
The event was organized and hosted by Democratic politicians Stacey Abrams, Pete Buttigieg, and Andrew Yang. It was all kicked off under the tagline "Trek the vote to victory!" making the Star Trek theme of it all ring loud and clear to anyone who tuned in. While it's certainly an unusual kind of political event, it seems to have had some success in gathering support, with 19 different cast members from various versions of the show popping in to visit the virtual rally.
Biden's campaign seems to be having fun with it all too. Biden's Twitter campaign account took the opportunity for references: “President Biden is the highly logical choice and vice-president Harris will boldly go where no woman has gone before.” Yang supporters were sent an email as well which remarked that it has "never been more important to boldly go into these last 22 days” as the election draws near. It wasn't all uncritical support however, with several cast members making their voices heard on their own personal concerns as well.
One of the first unexpected stances was from Wil Wheaton, who stated, “I just want to say thank you for bringing the idea of universal basic income into the mainstream of political conversation,” praising Yang for a policy idea that Biden has not embraced. Marina Sirtis, who played Counselor Deanna Troi, offered her praise with a heavy asterisk: “I mean I lean very left, but this time we had to just find someone who can beat Trump.” Despite these somewhat awkward bumps in the road, the rest of the event went fairly smoothly, and can likely be considered a successful night for the candidate's campaign.
Source: The Guardian