" It ’s unfortunate that the great unwashed lowball us — but we ’re more than happy to keep surprising mass with how much we can get done . "
On July 21, President Joe Bidenannouncedthat he would no longer be running for re-election in 2024 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to finish the race. That very same day, this tweet from 22-year-old Emerald Medrano activated an enormous and powerful yet often underestimated demographic: Taylor Swift fans.
I palpate like us U.S swifties should mass organize and help fight for Kamala Harris and spread how dreadful task 2025 would be to help get people ’s butts down to the polls in November 😭 like if we do n’t want republic to cease we really take to move and push blue votes
Just over a month later, on August 27, Swifties for Kamala hosted a Zoom call that raised $144,000 for the Harris-Walz campaign and got 14,000 people registered to vote. More than 34,000 people watched the call live to see fans like themselves, along with politicians like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand (plus the legendary Carole King), and to talk about why they hope America will never, ever, ever get back together with former president and convicted felon Donald Trump.
.@SenGillibrandjoining the#S4KCall … we do n’t know how it gets better than this 🥹 ✨ pic.twitter.com / HrVzPYKR9Q
Update : Taylor Swift has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States . Read morehere .
To learn how they pulled it off and what’s coming next, BuzzFeed interviewed three of the organizers behindSwifties for Kamala: Emerald Medrano, 22, cofounder and chairman; Irene Kim, 29, cofounder and executive director; and April Glick Pulito, 36, political director.
The group shared the deeply personal reason why they decided to organize Taylor Swift fans to support Kamala Harris’s campaign and opened up about the biggest challenges they’ve faced so far. They talked about why people often underestimate the power of fandom — especially when it comes to women and girls — and shared how they’re proving their critics wrong.
And above all, they want you to know that there’s no perfect time or way to get into politics, so why not start with something as simple as a friendship bracelet? Here’s what else they had to say.
BuzzFeed: How many people are working on Swifties for Kamala behind the scenes, and did you all meet online through the fandom?
What inspired you to tap into the Taylor Swift fandom to make a difference in the 2024 election?
What were some of the biggest challenges in organizing the Swifties for Kamala Zoom call, and which parts came more easily?
It seems to me like people tend to severely underestimate what Swifties are capable of. Why do you think that is?
Guess who ’s quondam enough to vote now 🫶https://t.co/3Ssl5RAHL4
I call up there also tend to be this idea that we ’re just this entity of faceless fan waiting for Taylor to tell us what to do , but we ’re not . We ’re your friends , menage , coworkers , even some of your bosses . We ’re real masses who are join by our love for Taylor Swift , care about a caboodle of important egress , and know how to get thing done together .
It ’s inauspicious that people undervalue us , but we ’re more than felicitous to keep surprising people with how much we can get done .
What would you say to other young people who want to get involved in politics but aren’t sure where to start or who feel like their voices won’t matter?
What are your plans as we get closer to the election?
Anything else you want to say?
you may do it with a bracelet gist ! 😍 Have the time of your life story at our bracelet - induce party in the#SwiftiesForKamalaDiscord ➡ ️https://t.co/4rm8PWBRrJhttps://t.co / W24U6gNMqD
We should try out not to get fall back in discourse and instead concentrate our energies where they can make a difference . Every exclusive thing we do between now and November 5th DOES weigh so get ’s make it count !
You can follow Swifties for Kamala onInstagram,TikTok, andTwitter.
