Swifties’ Election Ground Game: Phone-Banking, Fundraising and Lots of Bracelets
October 21, 2024
The Wall Street Journal – Joe Barrett
When Marley Gibson heads to the women’s restroom these days, the 57-year-old Taylor Swift fan brings a stack of Post-its and places a handwritten note below the toilet-paper dispenser in each stall.
“I make it a little treasure hunt” for the next woman to happen along, says Gibson, a small-business owner and concierge in Savannah, Ga. As for what the notes say: “The theme is women’s rights. Nobody needs to know how you vote. Use the positiveness that Taylor Swift has built, you know, be like Tay Tay.”
Swift last month endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in a post featuring the singer with one of her cats, trolling a certain vice-presidential candidate’s dig at childless cat ladies. Since then, pundits have been trying to assess what the nod from the world’s biggest pop star means for Harris’s race with former President Donald Trump.
Swift’s Sept. 10 post to her 283 million Instagram followers sent 405,999 people to a government website with information on how to register to vote, according to the General Services Administration.
It also energized Swifties to use her music, cover art and folklore to get out the vote in battleground states and beyond. They are phone-banking, canvassing, crafting, sending postcards, wearing their gear as a sign of support and finding each other through online groups like Swiftes for Kamala and Swifties for Harris.
Photo: Maddie McGarvey