In turn, many Democrats blamed celebrities for her loss, most suggesting it didn’t actually matter what they thought.

Litt said he believes celebrities can still make a difference in midterm elections, in which each party often depends on its base to turn out, and whichever party’s base is more excited often wins.

“These nonpresidential elections are often decided by ‘differential turnout.’ The party that gets more of its base to the polls has a big advantage — which means that celebrity endorsements can provide a decisive boost,” he said.

Glen Bolger, a veteran Republican pollster, told the New York Times that while celebrities don’t usually change minds, they do encourage a base’s voters to go to the polls.

He said that voters always like it “when a celebrity reinforces your own view by endorsing the candidate you support.”

“But that doesn’t mean it changes anybody’s minds,” he added. “If you’re a Trump supporter and a celebrity endorses him, well, that’s a smart celebrity, right? If you’re a Trump supporter and they endorse Kamala, well, I’m still going to watch their movie or their concert, but I’m not going to listen to their political advice.”

Litt also noted celebrities can establish a party’s willingness to expand its tent of voters. He said the Trump campaign touted the endorsements of black NFL stars such as Antonio Brown, Mike Wallace, and Le’Veon Bell while also making sure younger voters know it is endorsed by YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul and rapper Lil Pump.

The former speechwriter said Democrats should search for celebrity endorsements in different places, such as NASCAR and country music, which are typically Republican spheres of influence. That could broaden their coalition.

Lastly, Litt said he believes a celebrity’s social media presence can be more powerful than their physical presence, even though he said he feels many famous people were afraid to go too far in endorsing a candidate for fear of backlash.

“But surrogates with large followings don’t have to be obsessively political in order to have an impact,” he said. “They simply have to go beyond endorsing the civic duty of voting, or even endorsing a candidate, and start sharing information that their followers might not otherwise see. Whether this comes in the forms of news clips, articles or opinion pieces written by subject-matter experts, celebrities should embrace their role not just as personalities but as channels, reaching Americans increasingly uninclined to get their news from traditional sources.”

But even though Democrats held the celebrity advantage, wielding the endorsements of megastars, such as LeBron James, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift, they still lost the popular vote by millions of votes as of Thursday. But celebrities can still be a useful tool for Democrats, Litt said.

“As Democrats stare into the political abyss, they can voluntarily cede their advantage in celebrity support to Donald Trump and the GOP,” he concluded.

“Or they can use that advantage to boost turnout in nonpresidential races, broaden a shrinking coalition, and reach politically unengaged voters. Given the likely consequences of the 2024 election, it’s hard to overstate how much depends on Democrats making the right choice,” he said.