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Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Politics Washington

‘What the heck is this?’ and other first tweets by politicians

By  Emily McFarlan Miller
   
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Tomorrow is the eighth anniversary of the first tweet.

That first tweet was “just setting up my twttr,” sent by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

It sort of lacks the punch of the first telegraph message by Samuel Morse: “What hath God wrought?” But it’s occasion enough for Twitter to roll out a new feature today allowing users to see their #FirstTweets, or anybody else’s.

Here’s a look back at some of our politicians’ first tweets — for the most part, too “on message” to be very amusing — and the best of the rest.

Here are the first tweets from Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago mayor’s office:

And here’s the first tweet from Dan Sinker’s more colorful (read: NSFW) fake Mayor Emanuel.

Barack Obama sent his first tweet before he was president:

And First Lady Michelle Obama’s was recent enough, you probably still remember it:

Like President Obama, Valerie Jarrett took advantage of her first tweet to support a cause:

A fairly straightforward first tweet from Gov. Pat Quinn:

And a humblebrag from his Republican opponent for governor, Bruce Rauner:

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle also took the straightforward approach:

Cook County Clerk David Orr gave the Chicago Sun-Times a shoutout in his first tweet:

First tweets from our U.S. senators, Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk:

Rep. Tammy Duckworth’s first tweet from what appears to be her personal account shows she’s all technology all the time:

Alderman Nick Sposato’s first action on Twitter was to retweet a post from Mary Ann Ahern of NBC that somehow combines the Blackhawks and the Biebs. INTERNET GOLD.

Aldermen Ameya Pawar, Jason Ervin and Ariel Reboyras win points for enthusiasm:

Alderman Danny Solis’ first tweet involves a karaoke bar, so we can’t fault him there:

Alderman Matt O’Shea’s first tweet proves he has terrible taste in beer:

Alderman Tom Tunney pretty much invented hipsters:

Alderman Deb Mell, FTW:

U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland proudly upheld the time-honored tradition of tweeting about one’s lunch in her first post:

Oh, come on, you guys. Twitter isn’t that hard.

And in international politics, there was this gem, in happier days:

Spot some other great first tweets by politicians? Tweet at @CSTearlyoften and let us know!

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