Top Line
Taylor Swift ended months of speculation by endorsing Kamala Harris after Tuesday’s debate with former President Donald Trump. The billionaire pop star has stayed out of politics for most of her career, but supported President Joe Biden in 2020 but remained silent on the race.
Key Facts
In an Instagram post featuring a photo of her holding a cat and signing it “kidfree cat lady,” Swift called Harris a “steady and talented leader” — a jab at Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, who used the term to describe Democratic Party leaders.
Prior to this endorsement, the pop star had regularly criticized Trump in recent years and opposed his reelection, but had not indicated whether he would join the fight this year.
Despite being in public for more than 15 years, Swift only made her first political endorsement in 2018. In Tennessee, where she was registered to vote at the time, she supported Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen over Republican Marsha Blackburn (who ultimately won by just under 11 points), saying “I know this is right, and I need to be on the right side of history.”
Nearly two years later, she endorsed President Joe Biden and then-vice presidential nominee Harris, telling V Magazine that one of the reasons for her decision was that the United States needed a leader who “recognizes that people of color have a right to be safe and represented, that women have a right to choose what they do with their bodies, and that the LGBTQIA+ community has a right to be recognized and accepted.”
Swift slammed Trump in August 2020 after he acknowledged blocking funding for the U.S. Postal Service ahead of the election and the Democratic Party’s push for mail-in voting, criticizing his “planned dismantling of the Postal Service” and saying he “chose to blatantly cheat and endanger the lives of millions of Americans in order to stay in power.”
Swift added that President Trump’s “inept leadership has seriously exacerbated the crisis we face,” presumably referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although she did not endorse any candidate following the 2020 Biden-Harris election, she frequently posted voter registration links and information ahead of key dates and continued to urge her fans to vote.
Receive Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: Start a text message alert and stay on top of the biggest stories making headlines that day. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here.
Amazing facts
Swift said one of the reasons she supports Harris is because Trump posted an AI-generated photo of a fan supporting her with the caption “I accept!” In an Instagram post, Swift wrote that the AI image “has led me to the conclusion that as a voter I need to be very open about what I actually think in this election.”
Chief Reviewer
After Swift endorsed the Democratic candidate in 2018, Trump said his dislike of her music “diminished by about 25 percent” and that Swift likely “knew nothing” about Blackburn. In an excerpt from his book about Trump earlier this year, Trump called Swift “extraordinarily beautiful” but questioned whether she was “really a liberal,” saying, “I’m amazed that a country star can be a liberal and be successful.”
Main Background
Known for her carefully managed public image, Swift has not been as outspoken as other celebrities who have publicly declared their support for the Democratic Party, such as George Clooney, who hosted a fundraiser, and Pink, who performed at the party’s convention. In the 2020 documentary Taylor Swift: Miss Americana, Swift explained the reason for her lack of support from her supporters, stating that she had long believed that “good girls don’t push their opinions on people” and that she had stayed away from politics out of fear of the backlash against The Chicks for speaking out against George W. Bush. Swift admitted that she was “reluctant to publicly express my political opinions” in her initial endorsement post, but said that what has happened since 2016 has made her “feel very different about it.” Miss Americana revealed the behind-the-scenes story of her endorsement. In 2018, Swift discussed with her father and members of her team whether to break her years of political silence and support Bredesen, saying, “I know this is the right thing to do, and I need to be on the right side of history.” Before issuing a statement in support of Bredesen, who ultimately lost, Swift told a spokesperson, “If you get bad press for saying homophobic racists shouldn’t run for office, then you get bad press for that.”
Why is fast approval important?
Although Bredesen lost the election despite Swift’s endorsement, Vote.org reported that it had received nearly 65,000 registrations from 18-29 year-olds in about 24 hours after Swift’s post. After Swift encouraged people to register to vote on National Voter Registration Day last year, Vote.org recorded 35,252 new registrations, the most since 2020, and the site said the number of registered 18-year-olds was more than double the previous year. The results highlight Swift’s influence among younger voters, who tend to support Democrats but turn out at lower rates than older voters.
Forbes Rating
Swift, who became a millionaire late last year thanks to the success of her Eraser tour, has an estimated net worth of around $1.3 billion.
tangent
The race between Harris and Trump is expected to be a close one, with Harris leading Trump by an average of 2.7 points as of Tuesday night, according to a FiveThirtyEight average of national polls.
What is “Swifties For Kamala”?
Some Swifties have organized a group called “Swifties for Kamala,” which has no affiliation to Swift but has recently gained attention. Last month, the group hosted a Zoom call that brought together Swifties and other notable figures, including Carole King, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), to voice their support for Harris. More than 26,000 people registered to attend the call, which raised more than $138,000 for Harris, CNN reported.
Why did fans expect Harris to endorse them?
Swift’s endorsement of Biden in 2020 and her comments about Trump since then were perhaps the biggest hint that if she were to endorse a candidate, it would be Harris. She endorsed Biden on the day of the vice presidential debate featuring Harris in 2020, saying on The X Show that she was “going to yell at the TV and watch @KamalaHarris and cheer her on.” Some of Swift’s fans, who make it a habit to look for Easter eggs in her music, outfits and social media posts, speculated that she might be supporting him after she posted photos from her Eras tour on Instagram last month that some thought included a silhouette of Harris. However, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the silhouette appears to be one of her backing singers, who regularly appears in other photos from the tour.
Show more
Correction (9/5): This story has been updated to note that there was speculation that Swift will attend the Democratic National Convention and endorse Harris there.