Meet the Swifties Campaigning for Kamala Harris
In less than a week, Swifties have turned their community into an online election headquarters for US Vice President Kamala Harris—and the campaign wants in on the effort.
After President Joe Biden announced that he will not seek re-election Last week, Emerald Medrano, 22, turned the news upside down. As he watched pundits discuss the Democratic vote, he felt he had to do something. anything else. He has never been involved in politics, but he has a popular Swift stan account. Not knowing what to do, he tweeted“I feel like pro-Americans like us should organize and help campaign for Kamala Harris and spread the word about the horrors of the 2025 project to help people vote more favorably.”
The response was immediate and overwhelming. Medrano received hundreds of responses and direct messages from fellow Swifties expressing support, mostly for civil rights, transgender rights, and reproductive health. Some had political backgrounds. Others ran large Swift stan accounts or worked professionally on social media. The fandom served as a social lubricant for politically curious Swifties to get involved and leverage the skills they learned in the community to run for office.
“Common interests and fan knowledge is definitely a great way to connect that connection with community engagement and political activism,” Madeline Miner, 22, social media coordinator for Swifties for Kamala, told WIRED.
Since Medrano’s tweet, Swifties for Kamala has grown to more than 300 members, with thousands more signing up to join their Discord server. The group has grown so quickly that it has undergone three “restructurings.” The group currently has more than 80,000 followers on TikTok, 48,000 on X, 16,000 on Instagram, and a Substack titled “Paint the Town Blue,” related to a Swift song. (Other pro-Harris Swiftie accounts have popped up over the past week, but Swifties for Kamala is the biggest.)
The group has four teams: media, finance, outreach, and social. For social, the teams are assigned to platforms, each with its own lead. Rohan Reagan, 21, who ran a successful Swiftie account on Instagram, leading the team’s efforts there. For years, Reagan has posted edits he made to Swift; now he’s making them to Harris.
“The reels, the posts, all of that stuff is either created by me or outsourced to someone else,” Reagan said. “We have a post on the site right now where someone just went and created all the research infographics themselves. So they brought it to me. I tweaked it a little bit, and then posted it.”
Before Reagan or any other social media leader could create edits, Leigh Bauer, 23, a social media coordinator, began building the account’s brand and voice. Bauer drew inspiration from the fan community—specifically the official Swift fan account, @taylornation13on x.
“They have this very distinct voice, sharing news and updates, telling us when there’s merch and when the album is coming out, etc. But they’re also really, really great at interacting with fans online,” Bauer said. “And so wanting to break away from that and continue to be another familiar voice that fans will understand… but also a respected voice.”
