Beyoncé is anticipated to make an appearance on Friday in her hometown of Houston at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris, according to three individuals familiar with the situation. Harris's presidential campaign has adopted Beyoncé's 2016 song 'Freedom' as its anthem, and the singer's planned appearance adds significant star power to a key theme of the Democratic nominee's campaign: freedom.
Harris is heading to the traditionally Republican state just 10 days before Election Day, aiming to refocus her campaign against former President Donald Trump on reproductive care, which Democrats view as a crucial issue this year. The three individuals, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, did not receive immediate comment from the Harris campaign.
Beyoncé's presence was expected to draw even more attention to the event and Harris's closing message. Harris's Houston trip is scheduled to include women affected by Texas's restrictive abortion laws, which came into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. She has campaigned in other states with restrictive abortion laws, including Georgia, among the seven most closely contested states.
Harris has centered her campaign on the idea that Trump poses a threat to American freedoms, from reproductive and LGBTQ rights to the freedom to be safe from gun violence. Beyoncé granted Harris permission early in her campaign to use 'Freedom,' a soulful track from her 2016 album 'Lemonade,' in her debut ad. Harris has used its thumping chorus as a walk-out song at rallies ever since.
Beyoncé's alignment with Harris isn't the first time the Grammy winner has supported a Democratic politician. She performed at a presidential inaugural ball in 2009 for Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle. In 2013, she sang the national anthem at Obama's second inauguration. Three years later, she and her husband Jay-Z performed at a pre-election concert for Democratic Hillary Clinton in Cleveland.
Speculation about whether the superstar would appear at this summer's Democratic National Convention in Chicago reached a peak on the gathering's final night, with online rumors swirling after celebrity news site TMZ posted a story claiming Beyoncé was in Chicago and preparing to appear for Kamala Harris. The site attributed the information to 'multiple sources in the know,' none of whom were named. About an hour after Harris ended her speech, TMZ updated its story to say, 'To quote the great Beyoncé: We gotta lay our cards down, down, down … we got this one wrong.' In the end, Harris took the stage to the star's song, but that was its only appearance.
Last year, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, attended Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour in Maryland after receiving tickets from Beyoncé herself. 'Thanks for a fun date night, @Beyonce,' Harris wrote on Instagram.
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