Kamala Harris’ campaign isn’t paying people $700 a week to attend its events

Are people getting paid to attend Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign events? That’s what a viral post on TikTok wants some people to believe. 

The clip shows a woman telling a story about how Harris’ campaign is purportedly paying her nail technician’s cousin to attend the democratic presidential candidate’s campaign events. 

"I just left my nail salon and my nail tech … they said that their one cousin is in South Philly and listen to this, she is getting paid $700 a week to go to wherever Kamala’s campaign tells them to go to," she said in the Sept. 21 post. "So, it’s a $100 a day, $700 a week, and she’s not even a citizen, she can’t vote, but she wants that extra money."

A Sept. 22 X post also shared the video with the misspelled caption, "Kamala Harris Paying Non-Citizens $700 Per Week To Attend Rallys and Protest."

The original video has more than 104,000 views. The TikTok account that posted it goes by @thatboostedchickofficial, and the bio says, "Model by day, restaurant owner by night." 

The TikTokker goes by "Samantha Gashi" on Instagram, although news outlets have reported her name as "Samantha Gangewere," adding that she’s an OnlyFans model and co-owns a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, steakhouse. 

Gangewere usually posts videos in support of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump; Trump also reposted Gangewere’ video Sept. 23 on his Truth Social platform. 

The Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign confirmed to PolitiFact that the video’s claim is untrue. 

PolitiFact also found no evidence that says Harris' campaign is paying people to attend its events. 

We searched Google and the Nexis news database and found no credible news reports about the Harris-Walz campaign having paid people to attend events. 

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stated on October 21, 2024 in a Threads post

Donald Trump offered “food for everyone” at his McDonald’s press conference and then left without paying.

The claim that people are getting paid to attend events is not new. 

We rated False in August a Craigslist ad offering anti-Trump protesters $15 per hour to attend a Phoenix event. The ad had been circulating since 2020, and Harris' 2024 rally was in Gilbert, Arizona, not in Phoenix, as the ad listed. 

Reuters also rated False a claim suggesting that Harris’ campaign buses were used to take people to a Charlotte, North Carolina, rally Sept. 12, but the buses were used as a security barrier, not for transit. 

Back in 2016, we rated Pants On Fire! a claim repeated by Trump that protesters who targeted his rallies during his presidential campaign were paid $3,500 to attend. 

We rate the claim that people are "getting paid $700 a week"  to go to Harris’ campaign events False.