CHICAGO — For the first time, influencers and content creators are attending the Democratic National Convention, with some even scheduled to make speeches.

More than 200 creators were invited to the convention by the DNC committee, with a cumulative reach of 169 million people, the Democratic National Convention Committee said. There have been more than 2,200 downloads of DNC-provided content over the past week, the committee revealed Tuesday.

The DNC is providing the creators with exclusive access to its events and guests, and has full-time staff working with them on their engagement with the Harris-Walz campaign and the committee’s digital partnerships team.

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The result is a collection of influencers who usually don’t delve into politics, sharing their views at the DNC with a vast audience of mostly young people whom the Harris-Walz campaign wants to reach.

The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee also hosted its first such gathering of social media influencers last month, with nearly 100 conservative influencers in attendance. 

The DNC did not pay for the creators to travel to Chicago, and many had to foot the bills themselves or work with media companies to get sponsorships. There are no rules from the convention committee on the amount of content that influencers must share with their audiences.

For creators like Malynda Hale from Los Angeles, accepting the DNC’s invitation just made sense. Ms. Hale, 38, is a singer, actor and activist who creates content on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube for her tens of thousands of followers that focuses on educating activism.

“I pose a lot of critical-thinking questions, a lot of nuanced questions, and it feels like you’re just sitting at a table with a best friend having a conversation with deep, meaningful topics,” she said.

She said she’s particularly interested in the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and climate change.

A Democrat, Ms. Hale said she was always a fan of Vice President Kamala Harris, and would have voted for President Biden, but noticed more enthusiasm when Ms. Harris became the top of the Democratic ticket last month.

“As soon as they announced that Kamala was taking over, I really felt this uptick in energy. Like, okay, I really have to do my part to push to make sure she gets to the White House, because she represents so much, and it’s a historical presidency,” she said.

Ms. Hale said it took a lot of paperwork and emails to get to the convention, and she had to take part in a Secret Service background check, but she’s honored to be one of the first creators invited to a convention. She noted that the creators don’t have open access to the floor of the United Center, where delegates have their seats.

“It feels awesome because the voice I wanted to share with the world is being heard, and it’s powerful enough that they trust me to share this with my audience in an authentic way,” she said.

For Tell Williams, a preschool teacher and therapist from Philadelphia who does content creation on the side, the experience has been very exciting. 

Mr. Williams creates content on TikTok and Instagram about his experiences as a teacher, with some videos focusing on politics and how it affects educators, students and parents. On TikTok, he has 2.8 million followers on his @mrwilliamsprek page.

“I think it’s a great idea. I think if we are using the term ‘influencer,’ right, then if we’re sitting there pushing foods and candies and makeup, I think there’s a little part of us that should be pushing, or at least advocating for, what we think is right,” Mr. Williams said. “So on either side, I think that’s a good thing to use your voice and your privilege, and I am fortunate to have privilege and followers.”

He said it’s been great to be around the “positive energy and people that support the same things you do.”

“It helps you get reenergized,” he said.

The committee said inviting content creators to the convention was a way to “multiply our reach and ensure that everyone can witness democracy in action,” but it could also be seen as a way to get younger people involved and motivated.

Sisters Nadya Okamoto and Issa Okamoto, 26 and 21, respectively, have massive followings across their social media platforms for different reasons. Nadya runs the period products company August, and shares her experiences of running a business, while Issa who is still in college, shares what it’s like as a student and a young woman in her early 20s.

“This has been a really interesting experience because I do lifestyle, health and wellness, beauty and college content, so this is kind of like my first dip-toe in the water of the politics world,” Issa said. “I posted a video saying I was super excited with my normal energetic tone, and I lost like 600 followers over the hour. However, the shift has been really interesting because I gained a lot of followers back, but in a completely different kind of audience area.”

Nadya ran for city council in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2017 while she was a student and attended the 2016 convention as a personal assistant for former Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, who led a fight against more restrictive abortion regulations in the state.

She said she “fell in love with social media as a way to mobilize in just political grassroots movements.”

Both sisters agreed that having a platform and following means they should be using their influence to educate as much as they can about what they think is important.

“Now that I’ve kind of built a following with lifestyle, health and wellness, I was like, “Okay, this is the time to use the platform that I’ve created,’” Issa said.

“I think everybody should use their platform,” Nadya said, “because it’s a responsibility if they know what they’re talking about.”

The sisters said it’s a growing necessity to have creators at events such as the Chicago convention.

Issa said she hasn’t spoken much about politics on her platform, and she feels that her typical audience isn’t the type to look into what’s going on in the political sphere.

“Which is honestly why I think it’s been really important that influencers who aren’t in politics are getting involved now,” she said.

“I think that every single election is about how do you mobilize young people, and social media is literally how young people are communicating,” Nadya said. “So to me, it feels like a very obvious thing to do, and if they didn’t do it, I’d be kind of like ‘hmm.’”