Taylor Swift is backing Kamala Harris in the 2024 election—a rare endorsement for the billionaire pop star.
Topline
Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris after Tuesday’s debate with former President Donald Trump, ending months of speculation as the billionaire pop star—who stayed out of politics for much of her career but endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020—remained mum about the race.Key Facts
Swift called Harris a “steady-handed, gifted leader” in an Instagram post that featured a photo of Swift holding a cat and was signed “Childless Cat Lady”—a jab at Trump’s running mate JD Vance, who used the term to refer to Democratic leaders.
Prior to the endorsement, the pop star had periodically criticized Trump in recent years and opposed his reelection bid, but hadn’t hinted at whether she’ll join the fray this year.
Despite spending over 15 years in the public eye, Swift’s first political endorsement came in 2018 when she backed Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen over Republican Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee, where Swift was registered to vote at the time, saying “this is something I know is right and I need to be on the right side of history” (Blackburn ultimately won by just under 11 points).
About two years later, she endorsed President Joe Biden and then-running mate Harris, telling V Magazine the decision was in part because the U.S. needed a leader who “recognizes that people of color deserve to feel safe and represented, that women deserve the right to choose what happens to their bodies, and that the LGBTQIA+ community deserves to be acknowledged and included.”
Swift blasted Trump in August 2020, after he admitted to blocking money to the U.S. Postal Service ahead of the election and Democratic push for mail-in voting, criticizing his “calculated dismantling of USPS” and saying he chose “to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans’ lives at risk in an effort to hold on to power.”
Swift added that Trump’s “ineffective leadership gravely worsened the crisis that we are in,” likely referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She hadn’t endorsed a candidate after the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020, but continued to encourage her fans to vote, often posting voter registration links and information ahead of key dates.
