When Emerald Medrano heard that Joe Biden was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, the 22-year-old Taylor Swift fan knew it was time to speak up.

“I feel that we, the Swifties of America, should rally behind Kamala Harris’ campaign […] to urge everyone to vote in November,” Medrano wrote on her personal page with 70,000 followers. “If we don’t want American democracy to end, we really need to take action to promote the blue vote.”

From Medrano’s status line, the Swifties4Kamala alliance was born, gathering a large number of fans of the American singer. Dozens of people volunteered to create and manage accounts on X, Instagram and TikTok, as well as plan action and communication strategies. In just 3 weeks, Swifties4Kamala attracted more than 180,000 followers on social media platforms.

Famous singer Taylor Swift has millions of fans in the US and around the world. Photo: Seattle Times.

Explosive growth

Even before Medrano’s tweet, American social media had seen the emergence of many organizations supporting Ms. Harris, including groups based on ethnic characteristics such as Win With Black Women and White Dudes For Harris . But the members of Swifties4Kamala had something very different in common: a shared admiration for celebrities.

Fan organizations have long been overlooked, in part because they are seen as a playground for women and young people. But now they are emerging as a powerful political force in the 2024 US presidential race, especially as unprecedented numbers of women and LGBTQ+ people are expected to vote, march, and participate in political activism.

How does Swifties4Kamala work? On social media, the organization often posts videos and memes that feature both Taylor Swift and Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. Sometimes, they post information about activities Swifties can participate in (like march schedules or volunteer recruitment), or explain the proposals of Project 2025, the controversial platform of the American right-wing conservatives. And true to its name, every Swifties4Kamala post is linked to one of Taylor Swift’s many songs.

This approach serves two purposes. First, Swifties4Kamala wants to mobilize a decades-old Swiftie force to support Harris’s campaign. And second, they want to make politics less of a dry topic.

“What we wanted to do was have a bracelet-making party and remind everyone at the party how to vote,” said Glick Pulito, 36, a political communications staffer who worked on Mr. Biden’s 2020 campaign.

Taylor Swift’s fan community is gradually becoming a powerful political force in American politics. Photo: IndyStar .

Growing political power

Over the years, fan communities have become increasingly aware of their power when applied to politics, a power that was first demonstrated in 2020 when K-pop fans successfully disrupted a march in support of Donald Trump.

That power has continued to grow recently, with the explosive growth of Swifties4Kamala reflecting the sheer size of the Taylor Swift fan community. And this isn’t the first time.

In 2022, after Swift urged her millions of Instagram followers to vote, the election website Vote.org recorded more than 35,000 voter registrations. In 2023, the US Senate held hearings after ticket sales for Swift’s Era tour went awry under Ticketmaster.

Swift’s endorsement is a prize many are eyeing in this year’s presidential race, but the balance doesn’t seem to be tilting in favor of Trump and his running mate, JD Vance. Swift endorsed the Democratic nominee in both 2018 and 2020.

Earlier this year, experts suggested that Swift’s appeal could spur people who might not otherwise vote to vote. Notably, most Swifties identify as Democrats, according to a Morning Consult poll last year.

Irene Kim, co-founder and senior communications director of Swifties4Kamala, hopes that Swift will at some point publicly endorse Harris. But even then, Kim said she won’t wait.

“I personally hate the idea that Taylor needs to give the go-ahead to activate Swifties,” said Kim, 29. “We are a diverse group of very smart and different people. We are not mindless robots.”