Taylor Swift and Beyoncé were no-shows at the DNC. But will they endorse Kamala Harris?
Neither star has endorsed a candidate. But they've both lent support in the past
It didn't happen, despite the internet's very best efforts to manifest a megastar performance at the final night of the Democratic National Convention.
Speculation about a supposed "mystery guest" ranging from Taylor Swift to Beyoncé reached a fever pitch online Thursday. It didn't help that Beyoncé's song Freedom has been adopted by the U.S. vice-president as a campaign theme, and Mississippi delegate Kelly Jacobs donned "Swiftie" gear while passing out friendship bracelets.
The discourse was entertaining, and then briefly hopeful, as some news outlets reported as fact that Beyoncé would be the surprise performer.
But in the end, the only people on stage closing out the convention were the candidate, her running mate and their families.
To quote the great Beyonce: We gotta lay our cards down, down, down ... we got this one wrong.
—@TMZFans hoping for a surprise musical performance were disappointed. And while some convention attendees said they weren't — and it was best that Kamala Harris wasn't upstaged on her big night — hope still persists for another big-name celebrity endorsement to inject more enthusiasm into the Harris campaign.
Actor Tony Goldwyn, who hosted the DNC's first night, told Variety on Tuesday that he had high hopes that Swift and Beyoncé would endorse Harris.
"They're incredibly powerful women and I think it could be significant.
"Momentum is everything. If you can add to that momentum, it's only to the good."
A short history of Swift and Beyoncé endorsements
So far, neither Beyoncé nor Swift have endorsed either candidate. But they've both lent their support during past campaigns.
Swift, for her part, was known to stay silent on political issues in the beginning of her career, only offering her first political endorsement in 2018, for the U.S. midterm elections.
At the time, she said, "In the past I've been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now."
Since that year, she has encouraged her fans to register to vote. And last September, after Swift directed her fans to Vote.org, the organization said it recorded more than 35,000 registrations, NPR reports.
And in the last U.S. election in 2020, Swift said she was voting for Joe Biden and Harris (and posted a photo of her custom Biden 2020 cookies).
I spoke to <a href="https://twitter.com/vmagazine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@vmagazine</a> about why I’ll be voting for Joe Biden for president. So apt that it’s come out on the night of the VP debate. Gonna be watching and supporting <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KamalaHarris</a> by yelling at the tv a lot. And I also have custom cookies 🍪💪😘 <br><br>📷 <a href="https://twitter.com/inezandvinoodh?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@inezandvinoodh</a> <a href="https://t.co/DByvIgKocr">pic.twitter.com/DByvIgKocr</a>
—@taylorswift13Beyoncé has performed at Barack Obama's inauguration, and at a rally for Hillary Clinton. In 2020, she endorsed Biden-Harris in an Instagram post and encouraged people in Texas, her home state, to vote.
And according to Rolling Stone, the singer has reportedly threatened to send a cease-and-desist to the Trump campaign, after it, too, used her song Freedom in a social media video, though without permission.
While it's all just speculation as to whether or not Swift or Beyoncé will endorse Harris, some media outlets have pointed out that Swift endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020, so another one seems likely. And as the Brookings Institute points out, "Beyoncé seems OK with Harris using her music at this year's Democratic rallies."
So far, in this campaign, a number of celebrities have embraced Harris, including singers Janelle Monáe, John Legend, Katy Perry and Charli XCX. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion also performed at Harris's first rally and endorsed her for president.
The DNC saw appearances from celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Atlanta rapper Lil Jon and Mindy Kaling. Legend, Maren Morris, Stevie Wonder, Pink and The Chicks all performed.
At last month's Republican National Convention, Kid Rock, Hulk Hogan and Amber Rose were among the celebrities who showed up to support Trump.
That star power
U.S. celebrities have been aligning themselves with political campaigns since at least 1920, when Al Jolson lent his support to Warren G. Harding. Whether or not these endorsements actually influence elections is questionable, previous analysts have noted.
But Beyoncé and Swift are two of the most powerful performers in their industry, with far-reaching audiences, fiercely loyal fan bases, and strong, uncompromising senses of self, notes Zorianna Zurba, an assistant professor in the Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.
And for the Harris campaign, that could mean more security in an election where there's some worry that Democrats may not clinch the win, she told CBC News.
"I think the assumption is that maybe an endorsement from the Beyhive or the Swifties could imply a kind of safety," Zurba said, referring to the musicians' respective fan names.
"It was certainly enough for Trump to repost AI-generated images in hopes of sort of luring some votes," she said. The former president recently reposted AI images of Swift and her fans endorsing his campaign.
In a July report, the Brookings Institute said Winfrey's 2007 endorsement of Obama was the one big exception to celebrity endorsements, bringing Obama an estimated over one million votes.
And now the big question is whether Swift or Beyoncé have similar sway, it said.
"Swift is near the top among entertainment celebrities," noted the report. "Beyoncé is one of the few celebrities whose star power is equal to Swift's."
'Isn't that much more of a step'
By using Beyoncé's song for her campaign, Harris is already appealing to the singer's fans, "who are people the Harris campaign needs: people of colour, queer folks, young people," Kinitra D. Brooks, an academic and author of The Lemonade Reader, told the Associated Press.
Music offers a point of unity and a simple way for people to feel involved in something that's bigger than themselves, said Zurba.
As for the power of Swift? Well, just ask Mississippi delegate Kelly Jacobs, who made 1,000 friendship bracelets to hand out at the convention.
"I paid for them, I made them, and then we are able to walk up to a young white woman and say, 'Are you a Taylor Swift fan?'" Jacobs told the L.A. Times.
"And they say they are. I say, 'Well, would you like this Swiftie voter bracelet?' And then I ask them to please vote on Tuesday, November the 5th for whomever they like. So it's a campaign strategy that's really gone over well.
"People want the friendship bracelets."
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With files from The Associated Press