Swifties Rally Behind Kamala Harris in Unprecedented Political Move

In their 'voting era,' Swifties for Kamala organize to register voters for Harris

Sorry, a summary is not available for this article at this time. Please try again later. Trading friendship bracelets at political rallies. Wearing T-shirts that say "In my voting era." Holding debate watch parties that are as glittering as album-drop parties. Those are a few of the ways some Taylor Swift fans are seeking to intertwine their fandom with get-out-the-vote efforts ahead of the presidential election. Urging their fellow Swifties to support Vice President Kamala Harris, organizers of a Zoom call Tuesday said Harris could "lead this country into daylight." More than 34,000 people joined the Swifties for Kamala call, raising more than $122,000, according to its organizers. The call featured appearances from singer Carole King and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a way to win Eras Tour tickets -- and plenty of allusions to Swift lyrics. Swift, whose representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has yet to weigh in on the presidential race and is not affiliated with Swifties for Kamala. But the Zoom was part of grassroots efforts to turn the energy of Swift fans -- whose spending has altered local economies and whose enthusiasm has triggered earthquake sensors during the singer's Eras Tour -- toward the election. The group is working to "harness our Swiftie power into political power," said April Glick Pulito, the group's political director. Swifties for Kamala did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday from The Washington Post. The Zoom call was modeled after the identity-based calls held by other pro-Harris groups, which began with Win With Black Women on the day President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid. At least 40 have been held, according to a Post tally, raising more than $20 million collectively in July. "I am looking forward to the era of the first woman president," Warren said on the call, speaking from Milwaukee, where she was campaigning for Harris. "Swifties, you can get this done." King, who said she is friends with Swift, sang the chorus of "Shake It Off," saying it was her favorite Swift song. "I see her as sort of my musical and songwriting granddaughter," King said. "We have a lovely relationship, and I'm so proud of her." Tuesday's organizers walked Swift fans through how to campaign for Harris by knocking on doors, making phone calls and registering voters, sprinkling in a healthy amount of lyrical allusions -- "keeping everything very political and civically engaged but also everything having that layer of Swiftie-ness to it," said Annie Wu Henry, the group's campaign manager. "You can ... take the excitement and community we have and turn it into something more," Henry told participants. The group was born out of an X post by Emerald Medrano, a Swift fan who suggested that the community "organize and create a blue wave filled with hand hearts and friendship bracelets," he recalled on the Zoom. "To my surprise ... so many people were excited to contribute." Swift endorsed Biden in 2020, but she has not weighed in on the 2024 race or publicly reacted since Harris became the Democratic nominee. She supports LGBTQ rights, women's rights, abortion access and gun violence prevention -- issues that generally align with the Democratic Party's platform. In 2020, when she backed Biden, Swift did not make a formal endorsement until Oct. 7, about a month before the election. She appeared to be a Harris fan at the time, retweeting Harris's announcement that she would be Biden's running mate with the caption, "YES." Swift then announced her endorsement of Biden on the day of a vice-presidential debate. "Gonna be watching and supporting @KamalaHarris by yelling at the tv a lot," Swift wrote in the post announcing her vote for Biden. She also included a photo of her holding cookies frosted with the Biden-Harris campaign logo. "Voting never goes out of style," Harris replied on Twitter at the time, nodding to a Swift lyric. "Thank you so much for your support Taylor." With Swift's popularity high amid her record-breaking tour and her reach to millions of millennial and Gen Z fans, she could have the ability to affect the 2024 election, as The Post's Philip Bump wrote this month. The country got a glimpse of that power in September: After Swift told people to register to vote in honor of National Voter Registration Day, thousands appeared to heed her call. "I've been so lucky to see so many of you guys at my U.S. shows recently. I've heard you raise your voices, and I know how powerful they are," Swift wrote then. "Make sure you're ready to use them in our elections this year." Whether she will say anything more partisan this election cycle remains an open question. Before Biden exited the race, the idea of a Swift endorsement was seen as a pursuit to be treated with delicacy, and the campaign kept fairly mum on the question, The Post reported in February. Harris's campaign did the same Tuesday. Meanwhile, Republican presidential nominee and former president Donald Trump this month used a fake image of Swift to incorrectly imply she had endorsed him. He also shared another image, generated by artificial intelligence, that depicted women in "Swifties for Trump" T-shirts. Swift wrapped up the European leg of her Eras Tour last week and is on a break before the final scheduled leg of the show. The tour is set to conclude in December, after the election. Swift stayed away from politics as a young country music star before becoming more vocal later in her career. Some fans have urged her to use her platform more aggressively. After the war in Gaza broke out, for instance, some fans formed a "Swifties for Palestine" group and asked Swift on social media to speak out. (She did not respond.) The recent Swift frenzy perhaps reached a high leading up to the Super Bowl in February. Her relationship with football player Travis Kelce and her presence at NFL games drew a wave of public attention, prompting conspiracy theories from some on the right. In a February poll by Monmouth University, about one-third of Republicans said they believed Swift was part of a "covert government effort" to reelect Biden, an unfounded conspiracy theory. On Tuesday, the Zoom speakers sought to draw connections between Swift's work and Harris's ideals. Warren said Harris would "take on big corporations," name-dropping Ticketmaster, which had a server meltdown during the 2022 sale of Eras Tour tickets. Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) touted Harris's desire to tackle climate change, noting that the waters off the coast of Swift's beach house are warming. And Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said Swift has "lived all the challenges" she herself and other women have experienced. "Whether it's sexism or misogyny, or not being listened to, or being spoken over, or being disregarded or being counted out, she's lived those experiences," Gillibrand said, "and I think that's why she's such a rallying cry for women." Medrano, the effort's co-founder, said the fact that a single tweet led to the online mobilization of 34,000 people showed that "every single voice matters." "Things will change," Medrano said, quoting a Swift song, "and we have the power to do it."

Swifties Harness Their Power For Kamala Harris

Taylor Swift has yet to weigh in on the US presidential race, but some of her superfans are already stumping for Kamala Harris. As of Wednesday midday "Swifties for Kamala" had raised more than $140,000 in favor of the Democratic White House hopeful. They held an inaugural fundraising call the evening prior that was joined by some 27,000 viewers, launching the effort aimed at "turning our swiftie power into political power," as the group's political director put it during the meeting. Stars like Carole King along with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand appeared in the virtual meeting. "I am a swiftie, and Taylor and I are actually friends," King, the legendary singer-songwriter behind hits including "I Feel The Earth Move" and "You've Got A Friend" said on the call. "I've been a political activist for years. I've been a volunteer, I've been a door knocker, even as a famous person," King continued. "I'm telling you all this because if any of you are thinking of volunteering to be door knockers or phone callers, but you're a little nervous about what you might say, please believe me: there is nothing to lose and everything to gain." Swifties For Kamala began as a social media initiative founded by social media user and swiftie Emerald Medrano in the hours after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. The effort blossomed across platforms, and with accounts that currently have more than 72,000 subscribers on X, and nearly 50,000 on Instagram. Swift herself is not personally affiliated with the group. "We're a coalition of Taylor Swift fans committed to protecting the United States of America's historical democracy by working together to help progressive candidates in local and national elections, including Vice President Kamala Harris for our country's next president," reads the group's mission statement on their website. The group has a policy platform section on their website urging the protection of LGBTQIA+ rights and reproductive freedom, as well as support for new immigrants and taking climate change seriously. They also list "a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas" as a priority. Along with collecting donations they're encouraging swifties to register to vote, and selling merchandise including shirts that say "In My Voting Era." A global megastar with hundreds of millions of social media followers and a wildly loyal -- and chronically online -- fan base, Swift can move any needle with the tiniest of efforts. The right and the left have long wanted to count the "Blank Space" singer as their own -- but for years Swift stayed conspicuously out of politics, including in 2016 when Donald Trump won the presidency. Speculation abounded that the superstar was a closet Republican, until 2018, when she broke both her silence and the internet by endorsing the Democratic opponent of far-right politician Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee. Blackburn won anyway, but it ushered in a new chapter for Swift: she later explained handlers had urged her against wading into politics, telling her it could damage her career -- particularly in the country music industry, which despite its complexities is often associated with conservatism. Swift endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and has conveyed pro-LGBTQ+ messages through her songs and music videos. She also condemned the Supreme Court's reversal of the federal right to abortion, and has encouraged droves of her fans to register to vote. But Swift's massive popularity has also meant she's a regular target for political misinformation and right-wing conspiracy theories, often fueled by AI and amplified by the likes of Donald Trump. Nabbing a Swift endorsement for Harris isn't the goal of her organizing fans, they say. "We are not waiting on Taylor to show her support for Kamala Harris. We are doing this outside of her, using the platform of swifties as a way to get people involved in the election," Rohan Reagan, among the group's social media managers, told Cosmopolitan recently. Democratic Senator Ed Markey, who also joined the kickoff call, told swifties that "I am in awe of the community you have created online to share not just your love for Taylor Swift, but your commitment to building a better world." "This is the time, this is the place," he continued. "The swifties are the leaders for us to win this election."

Swifties harness their power for Kamala Harris

New York (AFP) - Taylor Swift has yet to weigh in on the US presidential race, but some of her superfans are already stumping for Kamala Harris. As of Wednesday midday "Swifties for Kamala" had raised more than $140,000 in favor of the Democratic White House hopeful. They held an inaugural fundraising call the evening prior that was joined by some 27,000 viewers, launching the effort aimed at "turning our swiftie power into political power," as the group's political director put it during the meeting. Stars like Carole King along with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand appeared in the virtual meeting. "I am a swiftie, and Taylor and I are actually friends," King, the legendary singer-songwriter behind hits including "I Feel The Earth Move" and "You've Got A Friend" said on the call. "I've been a political activist for years. I've been a volunteer, I've been a door knocker, even as a famous person," King continued. "I'm telling you all this because if any of you are thinking of volunteering to be door knockers or phone callers, but you're a little nervous about what you might say, please believe me: there is nothing to lose and everything to gain." Swifties For Kamala began as a social media initiative founded by social media user and swiftie Emerald Medrano in the hours after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. The effort blossomed across platforms, and with accounts that currently have more than 72,000 subscribers on X, and nearly 50,000 on Instagram. Swift herself is not personally affiliated with the group. "We're a coalition of Taylor Swift fans committed to protecting the United States of America's historical democracy by working together to help progressive candidates in local and national elections, including Vice President Kamala Harris for our country's next president," reads the group's mission statement on their website. The group has a policy platform section on their website urging the protection of LGBTQIA+ rights and reproductive freedom, as well as support for new immigrants and taking climate change seriously. They also list "a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas" as a priority. Along with collecting donations they're encouraging swifties to register to vote, and selling merchandise including shirts that say "In My Voting Era." 'Swifties are the leaders' A global megastar with hundreds of millions of social media followers and a wildly loyal -- and chronically online -- fan base, Swift can move any needle with the tiniest of efforts. The right and the left have long wanted to count the "Blank Space" singer as their own -- but for years Swift stayed conspicuously out of politics, including in 2016 when Donald Trump won the presidency. Speculation abounded that the superstar was a closet Republican, until 2018, when she broke both her silence and the internet by endorsing the Democratic opponent of far-right politician Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee. Blackburn won anyway, but it ushered in a new chapter for Swift: she later explained handlers had urged her against wading into politics, telling her it could damage her career -- particularly in the country music industry, which despite its complexities is often associated with conservatism. Swift endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and has conveyed pro-LGBTQ+ messages through her songs and music videos. She also condemned the Supreme Court's reversal of the federal right to abortion, and has encouraged droves of her fans to register to vote. But Swift's massive popularity has also meant she's a regular target for political misinformation and right-wing conspiracy theories, often fueled by AI and amplified by the likes of Donald Trump. Nabbing a Swift endorsement for Harris isn't the goal of her organizing fans, they say. "We are not waiting on Taylor to show her support for Kamala Harris. We are doing this outside of her, using the platform of swifties as a way to get people involved in the election," Rohan Reagan, among the group's social media managers, told Cosmopolitan recently. Democratic Senator Ed Markey, who also joined the kickoff call, told swifties that "I am in awe of the community you have created online to share not just your love for Taylor Swift, but your commitment to building a better world." "This is the time, this is the place," he continued. "The swifties are the leaders for us to win this election."