(NEXSTAR) — Within moments of Tuesday’s presidential debate ending, pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, ending weeks of speculation by her fans about whether she would throw her support behind anyone in this race.
In a post to Instagram, Swift encouraged her followers: “If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most,” adding that she had done her own. She went on to express fears about the use of AI-generated images to create a fake endorsement of former President Donald Trump, explaining that it prompted her to be “very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter.”
Accompanying the message was a photo of Swift holding one of her three cats, Benjamin Button, from the photo shoot when she was named Time’s 2023 Person of the Year.
She signed the long message “childless cat lady” — a reference to past remarks from Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance (Ohio).
Vance has received backlash over the comment, which he made while speaking on Fox News in 2021. At the time, he told former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson he believed Democrats were promoting an “antifamily” agenda led by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
The comments resurfaced after Trump added him to his ticket, and quickly became fodder for Democrats, though Vance has repeatedly tried to pass off the comments as “sarcasm” and a “joke.”
“Cat ladies” have often been used to portray women outside societal norms, like Angela Martin in “The Office.” Forbes previously reported it may even have medieval roots, dating back to when women were often accused of witchcraft.
As for Swift, she has long been open about her cats — in addition to Benjamin Button, there’s Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson — often posting them to social media and in some of her music videos.
She’s also made political endorsements before, expressing support for Phil Bredesen, who was running against Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) in the late 2010s. While Blackburn won, Swift’s endorsement prompted a wave of young people to vote, according to NBC.
Swift also endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020.
