While Taylor Swift has yet to endorse a presidential candidate, her passionate fan base is already mobilizing for one. The Swifties for Kamala coalition officially kicked off Tuesday afternoon with a virtual gathering that featured a host of guest speakers — including Carole King and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, among others — who offered Swift-related references and hints.
King was introduced as a self-proclaimed “original cat lady” and began her speech by praising Swift as “the granddaughter of music and songwriting.” Swift inducted King into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, where she performed a cover of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and called her “the greatest songwriter of all time.” King returned the favor during the call by singing the chorus of “Shake It Off.”
“I’m excited about Kamala, because a lot of people are excited about Kamala,” King said. “I admired her, and the idea that this happened, and the stars aligned, and Joe Biden did a really great, really hard job, and I’m very proud of him. … But this is about you. This call is about you.”
King offered advice on volunteering, specifically door-knocking and phone-calling, on the call, and encouraged an estimated 27,000 viewers to support Harris and Tim Walls. “I’ve been a political activist for years. I’ve been a volunteer, I’ve been a door-knocker, even as a celebrity,” she said. “I’m telling you all this because if any of you are thinking about volunteering to be a door-knocker or a phone-caller, but you’re a little nervous about what you might say, please believe me: You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
Each guest speaker was asked to share her favorite Swift song before sharing her political messages. Warren, the first guest speaker at the event, kicked off the call by claiming that “Karma” and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)” were her favorite songs. She also referenced the fight against Ticketmaster, and invoked “the era of the first female president,” with viewers in the “Swifties for Kamala” Discord chat applauding Warren’s efforts and donating to Harris’s campaign (an estimated $114,000 had been raised at the time of this article’s publication).
“So here’s the deal. We have 70 days until the election, and I’ll be honest, it’s going to be a tough fight ahead,” Warren said. “We have a lot to do, and, oh my, there are only 24 hours in a day, or 144 hours of ‘All Too Well (10 Minute Versions)’.”
Other special guests included Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Ed Markey (who, in a climate change speech, linked Swift’s song “Snow on the Beach” to Lana Del Rey); Rep. Chris DiLuzio and Rep. Becca Balint; North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton; and Swifties for Kamala members Irene Kim, Emerald Medrano, Annie Wu Henry, April Glick Polito, Emma Coleman, and Lexa Hayes.
The Swifties for Kamala campaign began after President Biden ended his campaign in July, as Democratic leadership quickly began rallying behind Harris as the presumptive new nominee. While Swift has yet to publicly endorse Harris or Trump, the pop star endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket ahead of the 2020 election.
“We’re not waiting for Taylor to show her support for Kamala Harris,” Rohan Regan, Swifties for Harris’ social media director, told Cosmopolitan earlier in August. “We’re doing this outside of her, using the Swifties platform as a way to engage people in the election. Taylor supported Joe Biden during the 2020 election, so she’ll likely show her support again. But Swifties for Kamala is not waiting for her to do this.”
Earlier in August, Donald Trump posted a series of photos on his Truth Social platform that claimed Swift had endorsed his candidacy. Two of the photos were confirmed to be real, taken by Swift herself. However, several appeared to be AI-generated images of women wearing T-shirts that read “Swifties for Trump.” One screenshot was taken from a satirical article. Trump captioned the post: “I do!”
Watch a replay of the demonstration below.
