Towson grandmother Betty Shulman is 95 and doesn't have a Twitter account. But she's gone viral nonetheless after sharing who she'll be voting for come November.
Betty's grandson Peter Shulman of Cleveland, Ohio, posted a photo of Betty on his Twitter account holding a poster that reads "I've been waiting 95 years for this" along with the hashtag "#I'mWithHer," in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Peter, a history professor at Case Western Reserve University, first posted the photo in April with the caption "My grandmother in Maryland asked me to share this. She was born during the Woodrow Wilson administration. #ImWithHer."
Peter said he received around 2,000 shares and retweets, including a retweet from John Podesta, chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
But on Tuesday, the second day of the Democratic National Convention, the tweet began to circulate, and as of Wednesday afternoon, Betty's picture supporting Clinton has been liked more than 16,000 times and retweeted by more than 8,000 people, including female pop duo Tegan and Sara.
"Someone found it and it's been taking off and it's still going," Peter said. "I still keep getting notifications. It's distracting but gratifying."
Peter said he has been updating his grandmother by phone about the many responses he has received, which include an outpouring of kind words, he said. Some have said they have been moved to tears, he said.
"She was both embarrassed and gratified," said Peter.
"Twitter is not always a nice place, but among the thousands who have retweeted or liked it, literally hundreds of people have commented about how touched they were personally," Peter said.
Betty said she doesn't know how the whole Twitter thing works, but she's proud of her grandson and excited about Clinton being in the running for president. Born not long after the passage of the 19th Amendment, she has been a Clinton fan ever since she heard of a good deed Clinton did for a friend of hers, she said.
Betty and her husband were close friends with the late Tilghman Island couple Helen and Marvin Caplan, whose son Tommy Caplan was the former roommate and longtime friend of Bill Clinton.
"At some point Tommy Caplan's mother died, and the first Thanksgiving [after she died], Hillary called Caplan and invited him and his father over," said Betty, her voice cracking.
"I get choked up," she said. "It was so heartfelt, that she thought enough of him to invite him to Thanksgiving, and I never forgot it. That's why I'm one of her greatest admirers, even though she doesn't know it."
But now that nearly 900,000 people have seen her picture, according to Peter's Twitter data, it could be likely that she has.
Peter Shulman said the idea for the tweet came about while discussing his grandmother's excitement over Clinton running for president and how she would get involved.
"My grandmother has always been the most politically engaged person in my family. As I was growing up, her and my grandfather were always reading, and the TV was on and they were engaged with current events," Shulman said.
Peter suggested sending out a tweet, and Betty jumped on board, having her son, Mark Shulman take a picture of her to send to Peter.
Betty, who describes herself as a proud Democrat, gave her grandson most of the credit and said she was proud.
"I hope to live to see Hillary installed as the president," she said.