close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

Live updates: Harris joins Obama in Georgia as Trump campaigns in Arizona
news

Live updates: Harris joins Obama in Georgia as Trump campaigns in Arizona

Beyoncé performing in Warsaw, Poland in 2023.

Beyoncé will make her first appearance alongside Vice President Kamala Harris on the campaign trail in Houston on Friday, a person familiar with the planning told CNN.

Since Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket and won Beyoncé’s permission to use “Freedom” as the campaign’s official anthem, the vice president’s team has been working behind the scenes to negotiate a joint performance before the election day.

Rumors of a Beyoncé appearance at the Democratic Convention threatened to overtake Harris’ acceptance speech. Campaign officials insist it was never the plan to get Beyoncé join Harris in Chicago, even though they were sending conflicting signals at the time.

The Friday performance in Houston, where Beyoncé will appear with Willie Nelson, is designed to be one of the campaign’s biggest closing acts. It remains an open question whether Taylor Swift will join Harris as she returns to the United States for the final swing of her Eras Tour.

While this is Beyoncé’s first time officially working with Harris, the superstar has a history of supporting Democratic candidates.

In 2013, she sang the national anthem at President Barack Obama’s inauguration. In 2016, Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z headlined a pre-election concert for Clinton in Cleveland, Ohio, with her backup dancers dressed in blue pantsuits in honor of the woman who could have been the first female president. In 2020, Beyoncé endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket and posted to her Instagram encouraging her followers to vote.

More about Harris’ visit to Texas: CNN previously reported that Harris is expected to discuss abortion rights as she seeks to draw a contrast with former President Donald Trump on the controversial issue ahead of Election Day, a senior campaign official said.

During her remarks, the vice president is expected to warn about the threat a second Trump term poses to women’s reproductive freedom. Harris will also blame the former president for extreme abortion bans, including in Texas, after the overturn of Roe v. Wade. She will be accompanied by women affected by the restrictive laws.

Democratic Senate candidate Colin Allred will join Harris in Houston as part of an effort to replace incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. While in Texas, Harris will also sit down for an interview with popular podcaster Brené Brown as she continues to participate in media engagements in an effort to reach voters where they are.

The campaign hopes that the political salience of reproductive rights can help mobilize voters to go to the polls. This November, voters in at least ten states will go to the polls to determine the future of abortion access in their state.

This post has been updated with more details about Beyoncé’s performance and Harris’ trip to Texas.