Taylor Swift's Kamala Harris endorsement shows how she's honed her political voice — and influence

Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president Tuesday night, calling her a “steady-handed, gifted leader.”

While there had been calls for the singer — whose public image is carefully managed — to speak out about the presidential race for months, Swift pulled the trigger after the Sept. 10 debate in Philadelphia between Harris and Donald Trump. In a post on Instagram, on which she has 283 million followers, she wrote that she believes the country can accomplish more “if we are led by calm and not chaos.”

In an Instagram Story, Swift directed people to Vote.gov, the U.S. government website that directs voters to their state election websites for state-specific voting information. The U.S. Government Services Administration told Yahoo Entertainment in a statement Wednesday that, as of 2 p.m. ET, Swift's endorsement post led directly to 337,826 people visiting the website.

As for Trump, he made his opinions about the singer known in a Truth Social post on Sunday that read simply, "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!"

For the 34-year-old, who signed her first record deal to record country pop music at age 15, sharing her political opinions on this global scale has evolved from radio silence to thought-out support.

What did Swift say in her post?

“Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight,” Swift began. “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for Kamala Harris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”

Swift said she had done her research before making her decision — and called on her fans to do the same, writing, “Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.”

She referenced how “AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site” in August and that the spread of misinformation “brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter.”

Swift also praised Harris’s VP pick, Tim Walz, for “standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”

Swift ended her post by signing it “Childless Cat Lady,” referring to Trump running mate JD Vance’s polarizing comment about women without children. It included a photo — from her 2023 Time magazine Person of the Year photoshoot in which she was holding her cat Benjamin Button.

What has the reaction been from the politicians?

After the debate, Trump was asked about Swift endorsing Harris to which he replied, “I have no idea.” He gave a more direct opinion on Sept. 15 when he posted on Truth Social, "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!" The Harris campaign responded to the former president's post with a statement titled "Trump's Bad Week (Taylor's Version)," one of many references to Swift's lyrics. Swift herself seemed to tune out the discord by showing up, per usual, to cheer on Kelce's Chiefs for their Sunday game against the Bengals.

On Wednesday, after sleeping on it, he called into Fox & Friends with a typical zinger: “I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better if you want to know the truth.”

It was a reference to Swift pal Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who supported Trump on social media. Swift faced backlash over the weekend for hanging out with Brittany in light of her Trump support during a couple’s date with Travis Kelce at the U.S. Open. It seems Swift’s line in her statement about “the choice is yours to make” addressed the public narrative on that.

After Swift’s endorsement, Harris exited the stage at her debate watch party to the entertainer’s feminist anthem "The Man.”

There are now Harris-Walz friendship bracelets for sale.

Meanwhile, Walz, who heard about Swift’s endorsement during a live appearance on MSNBC, including her specific praise about him, said he was “grateful” for the backing. He said “that’s the type of courage we need in America, to stand up.”

Swift’s political evolution

Starting out as a country music performer, Swift kept her political opinions to herself until she endorsed Democrat Phil Bredesen for Senate over Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn during the 2018 midterm elections in her home state of Tennessee.

Her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana showed Swift finding her voice when it came to politics. It saw her expressing criticism of Blackburn’s voting record regarding minority and LBGTQ rights and saying that she couldn’t be silent anymore. She held a sit-down with her team prior to her pulling the trigger with a social media post.

"I can't see another commercial [with] her disguising these policies behind the words 'Tennessee Christian values.’ I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That's not what we stand for," Swift told the group, which included her parents. "I need to be on the right side of history."

While it was a milestone she nervously celebrated — she and her publicist toasted with champagne as soon as Swift hit publish — she said she worried that speaking out would hurt her career, like it did to the band the Chicks.

While Blackburn won that election, it didn’t stop Swift from endorsing Biden and Harris in 2020. That announcement was delivered on the night of the VP debate and was sugary — including cookies.

The internet has been hot to get Swift’s official endorsement for 2024 all year. In February, Trump declared there was “no way” Swift would back Biden again. Trump mistakenly thought she supported him in August due to the AI debacle. When Harris became the nominee, after Biden dropped out in July and endorsed Harris, the calls for Swift’s endorsement magnified. It seems like she was waiting for the right moment.

Her fans started to mobilize before she did. While not affiliated with Swift, they launched @Swifties4Kamala on social media — described as a “coalition of Swifties ready to mobilize Taylor Swift fans to help get Democratic candidates elected up & down the ballot” in the bio — backing the VP after Biden's withdrawal.

Swift’s impact on voter registration

Someone as influential as Swift is obviously a boost to Harris, but its unlikely she will change the outcome of the election. What she has done and can take credit for though is boosting voter registration.

Her 2018 political coming out lead to over 100,000 people to registering to vote on Vote.org in 48 hours.

In 2023, Swift used National Voting Day to again urge people to register to vote. Vote.org said there were more than 35,000 new signups, which was a new record.

Updated, Sept. 15, 2024: This story was updated to include Trump's Truth Social reaction