Kamala Harris/Tim Walz ‘Ready For It’ and ‘Kamala Era’ Ads Go Up Following Taylor Swift Endorsement
The digital billboards from the Democratic National Committee in New York and Las Vegas came after singer's full-throated backing of Democratic ticket's presidential bid.
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The Kamala Harris campaign has pivoted from its Brat Summer to a new Era. On Friday (Sept. 13) the Democratic National Committee unveiled a new digital billboard campaign in New York and Las Vegas that leans into Taylor Swift‘s endorsement of the presidential bid by the sitting Vice President and her VP pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
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The ads from the DNC read “We’re In Our Kamala Era!” in a nod to Swift’s billion-dollar Eras Tour, as well as “A New Way Forward… Ready For It?,” a play on the song of the same name from the singer’s 2017 Reputation album. According to People, the Manhattan billboard is located 22 stories above the iconic red steps in Times Square — a seemingly Swift-esque Easter egg reference to Swift’s songs “22” and “Red” from 2012’s Red album.
Meanwhile the ads on the Las Vegas strip feature a photo of Harris, 59, with the Eras reference, as well as another of Trump, 78, that asks, “Exhausted with this guy?” While the New York ads are aimed at irritating Trump — who is known for putting his name on a number of buildings in New York — in his former home town, the choice of Sin City for the latter ad coincided with the twice-impeached former President’s planned rally in Vegas on Friday.
Following Harris’ strong performance at Tuesday’s debate with convicted felon Trump — during which the former reality TV star amplified a false and racist meme claiming that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating dogs and cats — Swift endorsed the Democratic ticket in an impassioned post in which she struck out at fake AI images that appeared to show her endorsing the MAGA leader.
“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” Swift said about the clearly doctored images that Trump re-posted on his Truth social feed. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth. I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
The post in which Swift posed with one of her cats was signed “Childless Cat Lady,” a dig at Trump VP candidate Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s 2021 demeaning description of Democratic leaders — including stepmother of two Harris — as “childless cat ladies… who want to make the rest of the country miserable.”
Swift’s endorsement on her 238 million-follower Instagram feed and plea for fans to register to vote led to nearly 400,000 people visiting the Vote.gov registration site in the days after Tuesday’s debate.
Trump denied the singer’s possible influence on the neck-and-neck race in an hourslong phone call with Fox & Friends on Wednesday in which he said, “I was not a Taylor Swift fan,” clarifying that he prefers the singer’s friend, Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, teammate of the singer’s boyfriend, KC tight end Travis Kelce. “She’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace,” Trump predicted of one of the planet’s most popular pop stars.
The ads are in keeping with the Harris/Walz campaign’s pinpoint needling of Trump with a barrage of memes and videos on X, as well as their perfectly-timed roll-out of friendship bracelets reading “Harris-Walz”; the $20-for-two accessories quickly sold out. Harris also immediately leaned into the Swift endorsement during her post-debate party on Tuesday night, where she walked off the stage to Swift’s misogyny-bashing Lover single “The Man.”
Check out the billboards below.
