More than 180,000 Taylor Swift fans have rallied behind Kamala Harris, combining fandom with political action. The Swifties4Kamala group happened after trans-ally Emerald Medrano called fellow Swift fans to action after Biden stepped aside so Harris could run for president. The 22-year-old struck a chord with his 70,000 followers..Dozens of people have signed up to help and run accounts. After just three weeks, Swifties4Kamala has gained more than 180,000 followers across social media platforms such as X, Instagram, and Tiktok.Swifties are posting video edits and memes in support of Harris and running mate Tim Walz..The coalition's Substack has more than 4,500 subscribers, but clarifies that Taylor Swift herself is not part of the effort, nor its next scheduled Zoom call on August 27."Swifties for Kamala organizers and friends will be speaking! Taylor is not one of our special guests, but she is always welcome to show up to our party," one post explained.Most Substack articles incorporate Swift lyrics into their appeals."What if we rolled the stone away?" asked one post."We can show you incredible things," claimed another, in reference to the ABC News itself got in on the lyrical word play in a piece on the Swifties4Kamala: "Taylor Swift fans have a blank space on their ballots this year, and they're ready to write Kamala Harris' name."Medrano made the first Substack post on July 29, just eight days after Biden announced he was stepping down as candidate to endorse Harris. Yet, Medrano's inaugural post was entitled "It's Been a Long Time Coming"."My name is Emerald. I am a Texan, a proud member of the Latnix and LGBTQ+ communities, and I am the founder of Swifties For Kamala (S4K)," Medrano wrote. Medrano told Swift fans "our kindness, our humor, our passion" meant "we could unite and create something beautiful.""I know in my heart that Swifties have the power to change this world," he wrote."One friendship bracelet at a time."Harris herself was part of the inaugural July 30 zoom call. Rob Flaherty, who ran digital strategy for Biden and now Harris, told CBS News that social media influencers are part of the campaign machine."We give them talking points, resources, base language, you know, graphics that they could repurpose or lift," he said.The Harris campaign doesn't pay these influencers, but other Democratic political organizations do, CBS News reported.Awa Sanneh, 23, has added pro-Harris messaging to her TikTok channel, which is more typically about beauty tips. Progressive advocacy group Protect Our Care paid her to do a video warning of Trump's plans should he become president again. Sanneh said content creators like her are paid at least $3,000 for such videos, though pay upwards of $10,000 was also possible.Although social media influencers are legally required to say when they are being paid to do commercial representations, the Federal Election Commission ruled last December that paid political messaging did not require such disclosure.Black social media influencer Kai Cenat livestreams to his 6.4 million subscribers on YouTube, but turned down an offer to interview Harris. Cenat said the Harris campaign and the Secret Service approached him to do a livestream interview of Harris, but he turned it down.“I’ve got the f——— Secret Service calling me five times,” he said.DJ Akademiks said on his own YouTube channel that black people get tapped by the Democrats at election time."I was shocked that Kai turned this down, not because Kai’s into politics, but because what happens is that there is a Democratic programming that happens around this time,” the DJ said.“It happens to all the big media companies and also entertainers, rappers alike, are pressured with ‘Yo, hey, if you black, you better do this.’”In May of 2020, Joe Biden got terse on air with African American radio host Charlamagne tha God. When a Biden staffer said it was time for the interview to end, Charlamagne complained, "You can't do that to black media!"Charlamagne invited Biden to a subsequent interview, but he refused."If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black." Biden said. The candidate later admitted, "I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy. I shouldn’t have been so cavalier."
