Kamala Harris thought her Hollywood connections would seal the deal.
She was about to get a reality check she’ll never recover from.
And Kamala Harris got one nasty surprise from Taylor Swift that she’ll never forget.
Swift’s lawyer delivered a devastating seven-word rejection
An explosive new book reveals the inside story of why Taylor Swift spectacularly snubbed Kamala Harris on the campaign trail despite issuing a debate night endorsement.¹
The Harris campaign was desperate for Swift to appear alongside other A-list celebrities like Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.
But it never happened.
Doug Emhoff, Harris’ husband, got the job of reaching out to Swift’s team because he used to work as an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles.
Both Emhoff and Swift’s lawyer Doug Baldridge were partners at the law firm Venable, so Emhoff figured he had an inside connection.
He reached out to Baldridge to "convey that the campaign would appreciate any efforts the pop star could make to help Harris."
Baldridge’s response was brutal and direct: "Swift would do what Swift thought best."
That seven-word rejection ended any hope of getting the world’s biggest pop star to appear with Harris.
The Harris campaign wasted millions on celebrity appearances
The Harris campaign wasted massive amounts of money with celebrity rallies during the final month as part of their plan to bring "joy back to politics."
Meghan Thee Stallion, Maggie Rogers, Gracie Abrams and Mumford & Sons, and others performed concerts to help Kamala rally voters.
Campaign staff privately worried that these expensive rallies weren’t worth the millions of dollars they cost to put on.
Federal Election Commission filings showed Harris paid Beyoncé’s production company, Parkwood Production Media LLC, $165,000 just for one event in Houston, Texas.
There was scant evidence that the rallies were persuading voters or boosting turnout.
Some celebrity assignments didn’t make sense, like sending Bruce Springsteen, whose fans are predominantly white, to Clarkston, Georgia, where the city’s population is 70 percent black and 50 percent foreign-born.
"The predominantly white press corps seemed more interested in Springsteen’s performance than the 23,000 mostly black attendees."
Swift surprised the campaign with debate night endorsement
On September 10, Harris stepped onstage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for her first and only debate against President Donald Trump.
Right after the debate wrapped up, Taylor Swift shocked the campaign by posting a full endorsement on her Instagram account.
She shared a photo of her with her cat, Benjamin Button, and signed it "Childless Cat Lady," taking a dig at J.D. Vance.
After Swift’s endorsement, the Harris campaign felt electric, and everyone expected Swift would eventually show up at a rally with Harris.
Harris wanted to know if she should talk about the endorsement when she spoke to supporters at a watch party.
Campaign advisors said that would sound "too thirsty," but agreed to change her walk-off song to Swift’s "The Man."
Final desperate hope for Swift appearance fell flat
In the final hours before Election Day, there was some evidence that a Swift appearance may finally be happening.
On Monday, November 4, Harris was heading to Pennsylvania and would door-knock with volunteers in Reading, the closest city to Swift’s birthplace.
Rumors flew that the town’s most famous daughter, Taylor Swift, would join Harris there or perform at a last rally in Philadelphia.
Low-level Harris aides did nothing to tamp down the speculation.
Instead the final night featured performances by 2 Chainz in Raleigh, Christina Aguilera in Las Vegas and Jon Bon Jovi in Detroit.
Lady Gaga reprised the role she played in 2016 and 2020 as the main act for the final event, performing songs in front of the Rocky steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Nothing more than the endorsement ever materialized.
This reveals the Democrats’ celebrity obsession problem
The Swift rejection exposes a fundamental problem with the Democrat Party’s approach to campaigning.
They’ve become so obsessed with celebrity endorsements that they’ve forgotten how to connect with regular working Americans.
Harris spent millions of dollars on celebrity appearances while Trump was holding rallies with everyday Americans who were struggling with high prices and open borders.
Swift’s decision to keep her distance from the Harris campaign after the endorsement shows even she recognized the Democrats’ celebrity strategy was a mistake.
The pop star understood that her endorsement was enough and that appearing on the campaign trail would look desperate and thirsty.
This isn’t the first time Democrats have relied too heavily on celebrity endorsements and come up short.
Hillary Clinton paraded around with Beyonce, Jay-Z, and other A-list celebrities in 2016 and still lost to Trump.
The American people don’t want to be lectured by out-of-touch celebrities who live in gated communities and fly around in private jets.
They want leaders who understand their struggles and have real solutions to their problems.
The fact that Doug Emhoff thought his law firm connections would be enough to get Swift to appear shows how out of touch the Democrat establishment really is.
Swift’s brutal rejection of their outreach efforts should serve as a wake-up call for Democrats who think celebrity endorsements are more important than actual policy solutions.
But don’t expect them to learn their lesson anytime soon.
¹ Nikki Schwab, "The inside story of why Taylor Swift spectacularly snubbed Kamala Harris on the campaign trail," Daily Mail, July 7, 2025.
