Beyoncé to join Kamala Harris on stage at rally in Houston
As the US Election race begins to come to an end, the polls are still as tight. However, bigger and bigger names keep on entering the picture. On September 11th, Taylor Swift announced her support for Kamala Harris and on October 23rd, Eminem appeared at the Democratic rally in Detroit. That said, it has now been announced that Beyoncé will attend a Harris campaign rally in her hometown of Houston.
The Democratic party rally in Houston was already meant to feature another Texas musician, Willie Nelson, who happens to appear on Beyoncé’s album Cowboy Carter. However, it seems the party have now managed to secure an appearance from one of the biggest entertainers of the last two decades.
The musician’s mother, Tina Knowles, has been extremely vocal on social media about her support of Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz. It is reported that she will also make an appearance on stage at the rally in Houston.
Although it hasn’t been officially announced by Harris’ team, The Washington Post first reported the news, claiming their sources were “people familiar with the planning who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview a performance that hasn’t been publicly announced.” Furthermore, NBC News claimed that their anonymous source was also familiar with the plans.
Beyoncé hasn’t actually spoken about the election publicly and it was heavily rumoured she would perform at the Democratic National Convention in August. However, nothing came to fruition, and instead, we saw Stevie Wonder, John Legend, The Chicks, Lil Jon, and Pink attend the event.
Many have been relatively sure she was set to endorse Kamala Harris given her mother’s support for the Democratic Party and the fact she gave the campaign permission to use her 2016 Lemonade track ‘Freedom’ as their primary rally song, which opens and closes events across the nation.
The Democratic Party have always had close ties to rap music and African-American culture, although, in recent years, many figures such as Kanye West and Lil Wayne have chosen to actively promote Donald Trump.
Beyoncé rarely ventures overtly into politics, but she is remembered for singing at a rally for Hillary Clinton in Ohio in 2016. Although Texas is not a swing state in presidential elections and has always been red, the senate race between Ted Cruz and Democrat Colin Allred is very close, and the Harris campaign is aware of the value a hometown performance from Bey could bring to their party.