Global superstar Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris for president, in a post on Instagram published mere minutes after the US presidential debate, saying the Democratic candidate would be the "warrior" to fight for the rights and causes that she upholds.

"As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country," Swift wrote on Instagram to her some 283 million followers late on Tuesday. "I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 presidential election."

“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”

In her social media statement, Swift encouraged her fans to register to vote and to "do your research", but said AI-generated images of her supporting Mr Trump forced her to realise the importance for speaking out on the election.

The images were shared by Donald Trump in late August, falsely depicting Swift and her fans endorsing his campaign for president.

She said: "It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter.

Swift mentioned that she had watched the Us presidential debate between Harris and Trump, and urged her fans to do their research on "the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you most".

At the end of the post, she signed off "Childless Cat Lady" in reference to comments made by Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance. The picture that accompanied the statement was of Swift with her cat Benjamin Button.

 

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Speaking in 2021 to then Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Vance called senior Democrats in Congress and the Biden administration "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too".

The Trump campaign quickly dismissed Swift's Harris-Walz endorsement, with spokesperson Karoline Leavitt saying: "This is further evidence that the Democrat party has unfortunately become a party of the wealthy elites.

“There’s many Swifties for Trump out there in America,” Leavitt continued.

Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, said on US news outlet MSNBC he was “incredibly grateful” for Swift's backing. “I say that also as a cat owner, a fellow cat owner,” he said, adding that her endorsement took guts, “and that’s the kind of courage we need in America”.

Swift endorsed Democratic candidates in 2018 and then presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2020, but until Tuesday was yet to back anyone in 2024.