Many people are scratching their heads about why Donald Trump sent out a social media post on Sunday declaring: "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!" One thing that post did was to fire up the “Swifties for Kamala” organization.
“As soon as we saw the post, we knew this was an opportunity. Our team was ready to go with lyric response ideas and ways to tie in our calls to donate and volunteer," said Carly Long, a member of the group's communications team, in a statement.
"We use the memes to catch people's attention, and then tell them how to turn that emotion into action. Swifties know that haters gonna hate, but we also know we can do more than just shake, shake, shake."
The group has thus far raised $40,000 for the Harris-Walz campaign off of Trump’s post, and have now raised more than $207,000 for the campaign since starting their fundraising efforts two months ago. A few weeks ago they held an inaugural fundraising call that was joined by 27,000 viewers, and featured appearances by famed singer Carole King and Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Ed Markey.
In addition to fundraising and phone banking, the Swifties for Kamala organization says they are planning additional outreach efforts — particularly in swing states. Something important to note is that they are planning to do major voter outreach efforts tied to the remaining dates of Swift’s Eras Tour, which is currently on break but starts up again in Miami on October 18 — great timing.
Irene Kim is cofounder and executive director of Swifties for Kamala, which is a volunteer-led organization with more than 3,500 volunteers (!) that is independent of the Harris-Walz campaign (although they have been in touch). In a recent interview with the BBC, Kim says she decided to get involved with campaigning for Harris-Walz because she wants the United States to see its first female president and believes that Kamala Harris will “protect our rights, the rights of our friends, our family members.”
Soon after Harris announced her intention to run for president, Irene Kim, 29, who spends as many as 14 hours a day talking to fellow Swifties online and has attended more than five of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour concerts, sprung into action. Along with other mega-fans who supported Harris, they created social media accounts, memes, montages, and newsletters, all in a bid to help their favorite candidate win the election.
...
...Kim, who says she has never participated in political campaigning like this before, thinks everyone came together in a really “natural” way. They’re using the skills she says they’ve developed — from strategizing how to buy tickets for the sold-out Eras tour and auctioning off merchandise like signed Taylor Swift records — to try and swing an election.
The Swifties for Kamala group didn’t know that Swift’s endorsement of Harris was coming, but they had planned for it anyway. Since Swift’s endorsement, Kim says it’s been “absolutely madness in the best way” for the group. She says they’ve seen a spike in voter registration activity and a “huge boost on social media” because of the endorsement. She also says it’s been a “huge morale” boost for the Swifties involved in the group.
In another sign of the growing momentum behind the Swifties for Kamala movement, following Swift’s endorsement of the Harris-Walz ticket the campaign quickly sold out of a Swift-inspired friendship bracelet (friendship bracelets are a big thing in Swifties fandom world). However, if you go to the Harris-Walz store right now they appear to be in stock again.
Get them while you can!
Kim says that the efforts of Swifties for Kamala are "proof of the power Swifties have. We're building off our existing fandom culture to make voting and politics accessible.”
Thank you Swifties!!! Let’s do this.
