"Taylor Swift’s Endorsement of Kamala Harris Sparks Surge in Donations—and Draws Reaction from Donald Trump"

When Taylor Swift made her highly anticipated endorsement of Kamala Harris on Tuesday night, it was shortly after Harris's debate finale against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The timing was as impactful as Swift's promise in her song “Mastermind.”

Harris’s first appearance after the debate was at her official watch party held at Philadelphia’s Cherry Street Pier. She took the stage to her signature hype music, Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” which began playing around 11:10 p.m., just minutes after Swift’s endorsement was posted online. Social media was abuzz with messages like “Taylor endorsed!!” and “Is this real?”

On stage, Harris addressed her supporters, declaring, “Hard work is good work, and we will win.” In the crowd, a member was heard shouting, “Taylor Swift endorsed!”—a moment that one social media user likened to “the modern Paul Revere.”

By the time Harris left the stage at 11:28 p.m., the impact of the news had settled in, and the playlist had been refreshed. Riding the wave of excitement from the evening, Harris exited to Taylor Swift’s “The Man,” featuring the lyrics, “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I were a man.”

Harris’s rapid response team lived up to their name by quickly updating their social media with Swift’s endorsement and photos of Harris, set to Swift’s upbeat track "Ready for It."

Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, reacted to the endorsement live on MSNBC with Rachel Maddow. Walz placed his hand over his heart, visibly moved, when Maddow read out Swift’s pledge to vote for their ticket in 2024. He smiled and mouthed “Wow, wow!” as she finished, then said, “I’m incredibly grateful, first of all, to Taylor Swift. And as a fellow cat owner, I appreciate it even more.” He also acknowledged “Swifties” directly, referencing the loud clatter of friendship bracelet beads that fans were likely dropping, and emphasized, “That’s the kind of courage we need in America.”

In response, Harris’s merchandise team swiftly made a set of friendship bracelets available for pre-order on her website. The bracelets featured beads spelling out “Harris Walz” and included an adjustable bead marked with a tiny “24.” This quick response suggests that Team Harris was caught off guard by the timing of the endorsement but had hoped for it and was ready to act fast. By lunchtime Wednesday, the bracelet pre-order had sold out. Swifties for Kamala's political director, April Glick Pulito, even tweeted, “guys i promise we didn’t know we really didn’t know” in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

By breakfast time, Swift’s Instagram post, featuring a photo of her with her cat Benjamin Button from her TIME Person of the Year shoot, had garnered over 8.7 million likes. In contrast, conservatives had their reactions ready: Elon Musk tweeted an unsettling “offer” to “give you a child and guard your cats with my life,” while Trump called into Fox & Friends to dismiss the endorsement. He paraphrased lyrics from “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and claimed he preferred Brittany Mahomes over Taylor Swift. Despite previously expressing interest in Swift’s endorsement and even using AI-generated images to falsely suggest her support, Trump now insisted he didn’t want it.

“Well, I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said when asked about Swift’s endorsement. “She’s a big Trump fan. I was not a Taylor Swift fan. It was only a matter of time. You couldn’t possibly endorse Biden. But she’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably face consequences for it in the marketplace. But I like Brittany. Brittany is great. She’s the one I like much better than Taylor Swift. Wife of the great quarterback. I think she’s terrific.”

Representatives for Brittany Mahomes did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.

The Swifties for Kamala organizing group, which is not officially affiliated with Swift but had already been mobilizing without waiting for her formal endorsement, predicted that “the impact will only grow thanks to Taylor’s support.” Co-founder and executive director Irene Kim remarked, “We knew she would speak when the time was right and are excited to continue the fight.”

The group reported having over 3,500 active volunteers and raising more than $158,000 for Harris’s campaign. Their kickoff call featured speakers like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, with music icon Carole King performing a snippet of Swift’s “Shake It Off.”

Let the games begin!