Taylor Swift said Tuesday night that she plans to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in November, adding that she wanted to set the record straight after former President Trump suggested he might support the Republican nomination.
In an Instagram post minutes after the Harris-Trump debate ended, Swift said she would vote for Harris because she “fights for the rights and causes that I believe need a warrior to stand up for them.”
“We can accomplish so much more in this country if we are guided by calm and not chaos,” Swift wrote. She said she was “very encouraged and impressed” that Harris chose Walz as her running mate, “who has been championing LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”
Swift's post comes several weeks after Trump shared images, created using artificial intelligence, suggesting that Swift had endorsed him and that her fans could help him win in November.
One image posted on Trump’s social media site, Truth Social, showed a group of young women wearing T-shirts reading “Swifties for Trump.” Another showed Swift dressed as Uncle Sam, with the caption: “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.”
The images were shared by a social media influencer and re-shared by Trump, who added: “I do.”
“They really raised my fears around artificial intelligence and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” Swift wrote of the images. “They led me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The easiest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
Swift, 34, wrote in her post that “your research is all yours and the choice is yours.”
“If you haven’t already, now is a great time to research the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the issues you care about most,” Swift wrote. “As a voter, I make sure to watch and read as much as I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country.”
Swift posted her message alongside a photo from her Time magazine Person of the Year photo shoot, in which she is holding her youngest cat, Benjamin Button, on her shoulder. She signed her post: “Taylor Swift, the childless cat lady.”
Her sendoff was a not-so-subtle nod to Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who once derided Harris and other Democratic leaders as “childless cat ladies.”
“In this country, we are effectively run by Democrats, by our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless women who are miserable with their own lives and the choices they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson in 2021. “It’s a basic fact: If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by childless people.”
Walz learned of the support while on air with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. He smiled and put his hand over his heart as Maddow read the post aloud.
“I’m incredibly grateful, first of all, to Taylor Swift,” Walz said. “I say that also as a cat owner, as a cat owner. That was eloquent and clear, and that’s the kind of courage we need in America.”
Swift has deep ties to Pennsylvania, which was mentioned repeatedly during Tuesday's debate in Philadelphia. She grew up halfway between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, is the brother of Jason Kelce, a former Philadelphia Eagles center.
