Taylor Swift Finally Endorses Kamala Harris

If Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June ultimately gave us Kamala Harris, then maybe Taylor Swift’s disastrous hug with Brittany Mahomes ultimately gave us her official 2024 endorsement.

It’s been a long week and a half of reading way too much about Mahomes—who’s the wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who’s the teammate of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who’s the boyfriend of Swift—and her apparent endorsement of Donald Trump. Specifically, what that meant or didn’t mean about Swift’s current political leanings.

Mahomes recently liked and unliked a racist, homophobic Instagram from Trump, then posted some shit about loving people who disagree with you, then liked a comment on one of her own Instagrams that read, “TRUMP-VANCE 2024🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸,” then Trump thanked Mahomes on Truth Social for her support. Then, on Thursday, Mahomes was not in Swift’s box during the Chiefs’ season opener, so Swifties were like, “OK, maybe Taylor’s distancing herself because Brittany loves Trump.” But then, Swift and Mahomes attended the US Open together on Sunday and were photographed hugging, and Swifties were like, “Well, fuck.” (Disclaimer: I am a Swiftie.)

But, almost immediately following Tuesday’s night debate—in which Harris delivered a pretty stunning performance and Trump delivered what can only be described as a racist, manic 4chan thread come to life—Swift endorsed Harris on Instagram.

“Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” she wrote to her 283 million followers. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”

“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,” she continued. “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she 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. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”

 

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Swift’s endorsement was posted with a photo of herself with one of her three cats, Benjamin Button—who CNN’s Jake Tapper wrongly identified as Olivia Benson, one of her other cats. (Her third cat is named Meredith Grey, if you were wondering…) She also wrote that she watched the debate, urged her followers to do their “research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most,” and reminded them to register to vote. Her post received over one million likes in just 13 minutes and had over four million likes at the time of publication.

Ultimately, I don’t know if Swift’s endorsement will sway the election one way or another, and I’m sure her Instagram was discussed, planned, and drafted long before any of the Mahomes drama, and I know she considers us all to be “vipers dressed in empath’s clothing,” but I am still breathing a sigh of relief.

There was some slight speculation that maybe she’d skip endorsing a candidate out of an abundance of caution following the thwarted terror plot that canceled her Eras Tour shows in Vienna, since she’ll be touring through December. But she wrote a scathing Instagram post of Tennessee Republicans ahead of the 2018 midterms, endorsed Biden/Harris ahead of the 2020 election, and also made a whole-ass documentary about regretting her silence during the 2016 election and vowing to never be silent about politics again. Plus, in 2018, Vote.org reported that, in the 24 hours after her Instagram, they received 65,000 new voter registrations. So it would have been disappointing if she chose not to say anything about the most important election of our lifetime, where abortion rights, reproductive rights, women’s rights, and bodily autonomy are literally on the ballot.

She signed the post, “With love and hope, Taylor Swift Childless Cat Lady.” I hope this means she’ll use the VMAs to announce reputation (Taylor’s Version).