Is Trisha Paytas going into politics? Influencer 'soft launches' 2026 congressional run

It wasn't on any of our 2026 bingo cards, but Trisha Paytas has announced she's considering running for a seat in the US House of Representatives.

The influencer, reality star, and YouTuber hinted at the surprise career move in a video called “2026 MANIFESTATIONS,” where she expressed how she “would love to run” for a seat where she lives in California.

“I know, it sounds so crazy to me, too,” she explained. “I really want to be able to truly make a difference because I see so much horrible stuff happening in the world — and happening right here in California as well.”

Meanwhile, on TikTok, Paytas posted a video of herself where she informed viewers she was “currently Googling” the steps she has to take in order to run for office.

"The idea of me being representative for the state of California came to me in a dream — in a vision, if you will,” she said. “It’s so vivid to me."

But why now? Paytas detailed how having three children - Malibu Barbie, Elvis, and Aquaman - has made her more concerned about the future world they're going to be living in.

“I never thought of myself as a political person until I started having kids and realizing, like, the world could be just so disastrous [and] dystopian for real by the time they get to be adults,” she told her followers. “I was like, ‘Alright Trish, enough just, like, shutting it out, being ignorant.”

On her podcast, Just Trish, she discussed her potential run with co-host Oscar Gracey as she noted, "I am being so serious about it. I have to look into it,” and said she believes it’s a “doable” goal as “there’s stupider people in Congress” than her.

“This is my goal, and I think it’s my only goal I need to achieve this year. I’m so serious,” she added. “I need to start campaigning. I think I can do it, because I can fund it myself. You just have to do a little campaign."

One of the key policies, she has said she would run on, is increasing the age requirement to 25 to take part in adult entertainment.

"There’s a lot of adult stars I follow now that wish they could scrub everything,” Paytas, including herself, as she was in the industry earlier in her career.

Plus, she's already workshopping her campaign slogan, which she shared, "Cali could be good."

Paytas has not yet commented on whether she will represent a particular political party or not if she runs for the seat when the midterm elections take place in November.

News of Paytas's possible congressional run has sparked a lot of reaction on social media, with people surprised at her latest career move, while others weren't so keen on the idea.

"Trish did u just soft launch your political campaign ???" one person questioned, while another said, "I’m convinced there’s NOTHING this woman won’t achieve in this lifetime go for it girl."

Taylor Lorenz wrote, "We're a decade away from Paytas as speaker of the house under the Jake Paul administration."

"F*** it man why not. Who cares anymore," a second person said.

A third person posted, "I can’t even laugh at the gall of this bc look who’s president."

"Tbh, I had her on my predictions list for Dancing with the Stars 2026, but what the hell sure," a fourth person commented.

Someone else posted, "Trisha Paytas running for Congress was not in my 2026 bingo but here we are."

Elsewhere from Indy100, What are Trisha Paytas' kids names? Inside the YouTuber's family, and Trisha Paytas’ husband breaks silence on baby Aquaman's name.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.