Pop music superstar Taylor Swift offered a sudden endorsement of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris moments after the presidential debate concluded late Tuesday night.
“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Swift wrote on Instagram.
She added that Harris “fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
Swift is widely regarded as one of the most influential celebrity endorsers in politics right now. The billionaire singer and songwriter is wrapping up a wildly successful world tour that has seen hundreds of thousands of fans gather across the U.S. and beyond. She is one of the most followed people on social media, with over 280,000,000 people on her Instagram account.
Donald Trump himself falsely suggested that he had Swift’s endorsement last month. The Republican nominee posted a fake, AI-generated image of Swift next to the slogan: “Taylor wants YOU to VOTE for DONALD TRUMP.”
Her announcement comes as some fans criticized Swift for her public friendship with Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, due to her perceived support for Trump.
‘Childless Cat Lady’
Swift signed her endorsement “Childless Cat Lady” and included a photo from her 2023 Time magazine person of the year photo shoot. In the photo, she posed with Benjamin Button, her youngest cat.
The message was a clear dig at the Republican ticket. Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, drew widespread headlines this year for his 2021 interview in which he criticized Harris and other “childless cat ladies” supposedly running the U.S. government.
Past support for Democrats
Swift’s endorsement of Harris is not a surprise.
The 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana chronicled Swift’s decision to start speaking out on political matters, starting with the 2018 Tennessee Senate race, in which she endorsed a Democrat. In the documentary, Swift compared the sitting Republican senator, Marsha Blackburn, to “Trump in a wig” and said she wished she spoke out against Trump in the 2016 race. (Blackburn would go on to win her race.)
Swift endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race, touting his support for women and the LGBTQ community. She also made it clear she was watching Harris in the vice presidential debate that year, writing on social media that she would “be watching and supporting @KamalaHarris by yelling at the tv a lot.”
Recent Mahomes backlash
Some of Swift’s fans have been criticizing her for recently embracing Brittany Mahomes at the U.S. Open. Last month, Mahomes had liked a Trump Instagram post laying out his 2024 agenda, and Trump thanked her last week in a post on his social media site.
“I want to thank beautiful Brittany Mahomes for so strongly defending me, and the fact that MAGA is the greatest and most powerful Political Movement in the History of our now Failing Country. … [I]t is nice to see someone who loves our Country, and wants to save it from DOOM. What a great couple – See you both at the Super Bowl!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The social media activity sparked a torrent of speculation about whether Swift would — and then debates about if she should — distance herself from her friend.
