Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris in post proudly claiming to be ‘childless cat lady’
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Taylor Swift has officially endorsed Kamala Harris for president as she proudly claimed to be a “childless cat lady”.
The megastar shared her support for Ms Harris on Instagram after the end of the presidential debate, saying 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,” the Shake It Off singer wrote.
She signed off her post to her 283 million Instagram followers by referring to herself as a “Childless Cat Lady” along with a picture of her holding one of her beloved cats.
It is a reference to comments previously made by JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, accusing “childless of cat ladies” of running the United States, a much-derided comment that helped to turn him into one of the least popular vice-presidential candidates in history.
Tim Walz has said he is “incredibly grateful” to have Swift’s endorsement. When asked about it on MSNBC he also made an appeal to “Swifties” to “get things going”.
Swift had complimented Ms Harris’s choice of vice-presidential candidate who she said had been “been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades”.
Her post had been liked nearly 2 million times within 25 minutes.
Swift said she had watched the debate and urged her fans to do their research “the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most”.
She said she was motivated to share her voting decision after an AI image of her falsely endorsing Trump was posted on his website.
“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. 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,” she said.
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, formerly Twitter, responded sardonically to Swift in a post on the platform.
“Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life,” he wrote.
Swift, who spent much of her career steering clear of mentioning politics over fear of isolating fans, came out in support of Joe Biden in 2020.
However, during this election cycle – her silence had weighed heavily.
Her endorsement of the Harris campaign comes at a critical time as both presidential hopefuls were largely neck-and-neck in the polls going into the debate.
Swift, one of the most famous women in America, holds significant political sway owing to her enormous and fiercely loyal fan base.
When asked for his reaction to Swift’s endorsement in the spin room, Trump said: “I have no idea.”
It is not clear if the timing of the announcement was coordinated with the Harris campaign, but it played into the hands of the vice-president by helping to create a positive narrative for her in the aftermath of the first debate.
Mr Walz read the whole endorsement live on air during an MSNBC interview.
Celebrities have already had an impact on the race, with George Clooney’s opinion piece in The New York Times in July putting pressure on Joe Biden to step down.
Matt Damon, Ben Stiller and Lin-Manuel Miranda have also backed the Harris-Walz ticket.
But Trump thanked Brittany Mahomes, the wife of NFL star Patrick Mahomes and a close friend of Swift, for “defending him” after she liked pro-Trump posts on social media.
How far Swift’s endorsement will move voters remains to be seen, but she has had a seismic influence on popular culture this year, with her Eras tour literally causing small earthquakes because of the huge crowd sizes.
