Gov. Tim Walz reacts to ‘fellow cat owner’ Taylor Swift’s endorsement

Taylor Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president Tuesday and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her running mate, seemingly learned about it during an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

In her endorsement, posted on Instagram, Swift said she was particularly “heartened and impressed” by Harris’ decision to choose Walz as her running mate, writing that the governor “has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”

Swift urged her fans and followers to make their own choice and signed the statement as a “childless cat lady.”

Walz seemed taken aback as Maddow read the statement in full before he offered his gratitude.

“I am incredibly grateful to Taylor Swift,” Walz said. “I say that also as a cat owner, a fellow cat owner. ... That was eloquent. And it was clear. And that’s the type of courage we need in America to stand up.”

He then likened Swift’s endorsement to the activism among much of the Democratic coalition in recent weeks, including Republicans who spoke at the Democratic National Convention and women who have shared their stories about accessing abortion and reproductive health care since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

“Now you have somebody like Taylor Swift coming out, making that very clear,” Walz said.

Swift said she made her decision in part because of the proliferation of AI-generated images of her backing former President Donald Trump. Trump recently shared an illustration of Swift dressed as Uncle Sam captioned: “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.”

“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” Swift wrote. “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.”