Beyoncé is set to make an appearance this Friday in her hometown of Houston at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris, according to three people familiar with the plan.
The Harris campaign has adopted Beyoncé’s 2016 track “Freedom” as its anthem, and Beyoncé’s expected presence brings significant star power to Harris’ central campaign theme: freedom.
Harris will be heading to Texas, typically a Republican stronghold, just 10 days before Election Day. Her goal is to refocus her campaign against former President Donald Trump on reproductive rights, which Democrats view as a crucial issue this year.
The three sources spoke on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to discuss the details publicly. The Harris campaign declined to comment.
Beyoncé’s participation is anticipated to boost attention to the event and to Harris’ campaign message.
The Houston rally will spotlight women impacted by Texas' strict abortion laws, which went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Harris has campaigned in other states with restrictive abortion laws, including Georgia, among the seven states expected to be most closely contested in the election.
Harris has built her campaign around the argument that Trump poses a threat to American freedoms, from reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ protections to freedom from gun violence.
Beyoncé had granted Harris permission early in the campaign to use “Freedom,” a powerful track from her 2016 album Lemonade, in her debut campaign ad. Since then, Harris has used the song’s powerful chorus as her walk-out music at rallies.
This support from Beyoncé isn’t her first for a Democratic candidate. In 2009, she performed at Barack Obama’s presidential inaugural ball, where he and his wife, Michelle, danced. She also sang the national anthem at Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, and in 2016, Beyoncé and her husband, Jay-Z, performed at a concert for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland before the election.
Reflecting on that moment, Beyoncé said, “Look how far we’ve come from having no voice to being on the brink of history—again. But we have to vote.”
A January poll by Ipsos found that 64% of Democrats held a favorable opinion of Beyoncé, compared to 32% of Republicans. Overall, more Americans viewed her favorably than unfavorably, 48% to 33%.
Rumors of a Beyoncé appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer reached a peak on the convention's final night, when TMZ speculated she might appear. Ultimately, Harris took the stage to Beyoncé’s song, but the singer did not perform.
Last year, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, attended Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour in Maryland after receiving tickets from Beyoncé herself. Harris later shared on Instagram, “Thanks for a fun date night, @Beyonce.” Photo by Raph_PH, Wikimedia commons.
