If you take a gander at the Swifties for Kamala website or any of its social media profiles, you won’t get too far without encountering one all-important phrase: “not affiliated with Taylor Swift.” The group, which formed earlier this summer to support Harris’ presidential run, tries to be up front about this fact, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a little bewildering. I thought so again on Tuesday evening during a kickoff Zoom call held by the group, when an organizer happened to say, about an hour and a half in, “And again, this has nothing to do with Taylor or her team.”
Well, nothing and everything, right? She was talking specifically about a contest the organization was promoting, to win tickets to the “Eras” tour by registering people to vote, but the disclaimer struck me as an encapsulation of a fundamental contradiction of the group: Swifties for Kamala was established independently of Swift, who has yet to endorse anyone in the 2024 election.
The group’s call joins an array of other political Zooms this election season. The event was star-studded, featuring Carole King (who sang a few bars of “Shake It Off” when it was her turn to speak), three different U.S. senators, and other political speakers. It was all at least a moderate success, if you go by the numbers organizers have touted: Some 34,000 attendees raised nearly $150,000 for Harris’ campaign, according to NPR. Not White Dudes for Harris numbers, but not too shabby. Of course, anyone who attended hoping for a surprise appearance from a certain pop star probably left disappointed.
Swift was treated a bit like the elephant in the room all evening—the event was both about her and not at all about her. There has been a lot of talk this election season about a potential Swift endorsem*nt, including some disappointment that the artist has stayed silent so far. In some ways, this frustration can seem misplaced: Though Swift stayed out of politics early in her career, over the past few years, she has made where she stands known, endorsing several Democrats for office, including Joe Biden in 2020. Her power to actually affect elections seems somewhat overstated, though. While Swift’s influence is huge, it also has limits; candidates she has endorsed don’t always win.
All of this puts a group like Swifties for Kamala in a slightly awkward position. Although most of its members probably assume that Swift is on their side, and maybe even expect her to come out and endorse Kamala eventually, for now they have to toe a careful line, organizing under Swift’s name while constantly clarifying that they are doing so in an unofficial capacity. It makes for a confusing dance, and it’s something I’ve struggled to imagine how I might explain to an alien, or an older family member: So there are these people, and they really love this one music artist, so much that they’ve kind of made it their identity, and now they’re trying to parlay the momentum and community they’ve formed from loving that artist into political organizing, even though the musical artist hasn’t really given them the green light to do so. A fair follow-up response to this explanation would definitely be “Uh … why?” And indeed, the connection between being a Swiftie and supporting Harris’ run can seem pretty loose at times. One speaker during Tuesday’s call said of Harris, “The way she has been opening doors for marginalized communities and making sure those doors stay open in her career reminds me of Taylor and her fierce work in the music industry.” When I consider Swift’s career, what initially springs to mind isn’t her opening doors for marginalized communities—nor is that among the first things I associate with Harris, come to think of it.
But you know what? No matter how mystified I occasionally am by members of Swifties for Kamala’s determination to support Kamala not just as themselves but as Swifties, there’s no real reason to begrudge the group. Yes, it’s cringe to watch politicians attempt to out-pander one another with the amount of Swift references they can cram into a few minutes of addressing her fans (did you know that Sen. Elizabeth Warren considers herself a “Karma” fan?), but the organization isn’t hurting anyone, and it may be helping, not only by raising money but by keeping voters engaged in the election. And good for them. Even if Taylor Swift never thanks them, democracy might.
