Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate Tim Walz had a priceless reaction after he found out live on MSNBC's air that pop star Taylor Swift had endorsed the Harris campaign.
Walz was in conversation with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow when he learned about Swift's endorsement. Swift, who said in an Instagram post that she was only recently "made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site," chose to counter misinformation by expressing her support for the Harris-Walz ticket.
She wrote, in part:
"I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for [Harris] because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos."
"I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate [Walz], who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades."
Notably, Swift closed out the post by referring to herself as a "Childless Cat Lady," a nod to recently resurfaced misogynistic remarks from former President Donald Trump's running mate J.D. Vance that have impacted his favorability.
Maddow brought the endorsement to Walz's attention, saying:
“While we have been talking, somebody has just handed me something, and I’m going to do sort of a not-very-TV thing, and I’m going to read it to you ... in totality."
“I don’t think you know about this, but this was just posted online by a woman you might have heard of whose name is Taylor Swift."
Walz grinned as Maddow read Swift's entire post and when she had finished, he said:
"Wow! I am incredibly grateful, first of all, to Taylor Swift. I say that also, as a cat owner, a fellow cat owner. That was eloquent and it was clear, and that’s the type of courage we need in America to stand up.”
“We’ve seen it out of those Republicans who were at the DNC. We’ve seen it out of women who would like to have their own personal lives kept personal, but are forced to go out there because they nearly died because they can’t get abortion services in a pregnancy, and now you have somebody like Taylor Swift coming out, making that very clear."
"This is your opportunity, Swifties! kamalaharris.com. Get on over there, give us a hand, get things going."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
People loved his response and had their own reactions to Swift's endorsement.
Swift, much to the chagrin of Trump and conservatives, has used her massive profile to encourage young voters to participate in the electoral process, efforts that have been recognized by political scientists as having a significant impact on key races. Swifties have acknowledged that a Swift endorsement could potentially sway their votes.
Last year, the singer shared a brief message on Instagram urging her hundreds of millions of followers to register to vote. Following her post, Vote.gov, the nonpartisan nonprofit she highlighted, reported over 35,000 new registrations.
The organization noted that the 35,252 registrations on National Voter Registration Day marked the highest total since 2020, reflecting a 23% increase from the previous year. Notably, the number of 18-year-olds registering was more than double that of 2022.
