Taylor Swift announces support for Kamala Harris

Washington: US pop megastar Taylor Swift endorsed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris late on Tuesday after her presidential debate against Republican former President Donald Trump.

Swift made the endorsement in a post on Instagram and said she will vote for the US vice president in the November 5 US election which polls show to be very tight.

Swift included an image of herself with her cat in her post, which she signed as “childless cat lady,” in an apparent dig at remarks previously made by Trump's running mate JD Vance, who in a 2021 interview called some leading Democrats “a bunch of childless cat ladies”. He has since said it was merely a “sarcastic remark”.

“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I'm voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” Swift said in her post.

The endorsement is the biggest for Harris from the entertainment industry. Many Hollywood actors, producers and filmmakers have said they viewed Harris, a native Californian, as their hometown candidate.

Harris shares a home with her husband, Doug Emhoff, a former entertainment lawyer, in the celebrity enclave of Brentwood on the west side of Los Angeles.

In August, Trump posted a fake social media image of Swift asking people to vote for him in the November election.

Swift made a reference to that in her post late on Tuesday, saying Trump's move “really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation”. She added: “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter”.

Swift has supported Democrats in the past. She backed President Joe Biden in 2020.

Harris' running mate Tim Walz, who was on air on MSNBC when the endorsement was announced, said he was “incredibly grateful”.

“Get things going,” Walz said in an appeal to “Swifties” when asked about the endorsement.

SOURCE: REUTERS