PHILADELPHIA (AP) 鈥 叠别测辞苍肠茅 is expected to appear Friday in her hometown of Houston at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Harris' presidential campaign has taken on Beyonce's 2016 track 鈥淔reedom鈥 as its anthem, and the singer's planned appearance brings a high-level of star power to what has become a key theme of the Democratic nomineesa国际传媒 bid: freedom.
Harris will head to the reliably Republican state just 10 days before Election Day in an effort to refocus her campaign against former President on reproductive care, which Democrats see as a make-or-break issue this year.
The three people were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Harris campaign did not immediately comment.
叠别测辞苍肠茅鈥榮 appearance was expected to draw even more attention to the event 鈥 and to Harris鈥 closing message.
Harris鈥 Houston trip is set to feature women who have been affected by Texas' restrictive abortion laws, which took 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 around the idea that Trump is a threat to American freedoms, from reproductive and LGBTQ rights to the freedom to be safe from gun violence.
Beyonce gave Harris permission early in her campaign to use 鈥淔reedom,鈥 a soulful track from her 2016 landmark album 鈥淟emonade,鈥 in her debut ad. Harris has used its thumping chorus as at rallies ever since.
叠别测辞苍肠茅sa国际传媒 alignment with Harris isn鈥檛 the first time that the Grammy winner has aligned with a Democratic politician. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, danced as 叠别测辞苍肠茅 performed at a presidential inaugural ball in 2009.
In 2013, she at Obamasa国际传媒 second inauguration. Three years later, she and her husband Jay-Z performed at for Democrat Hillary Clinton in Cleveland.
鈥淟ook how far we鈥檝e come from having no voice to being on the brink of history 鈥 again,鈥 叠别测辞苍肠茅 said at the time. 鈥淏ut we have to vote.鈥
A January poll by Ipsos for the anti-polarization nonprofit With Honor found that 64% of Democrats had a favorable view of Beyonce compared with just 32% of Republicans. Overall, Americans were more likely to have a favorable opinion than an unfavorable one, 48% to 33%.
Speculation over whether the superstar would appear at this summersa国际传媒 in Chicago on the gatheringsa国际传媒 final night, with online rumors swirling after celebrity news site TMZ posted a story that said: 鈥湹鸩獯遣猿γ is in Chicago, and getting ready to pop out for Kamala Harris on the final night of the Democratic convention.鈥 The site attributed it to 鈥渕ultiple sources in the know,鈥 none of them named.
sa国际传媒 an hour after Harris ended her speech, TMZ to say, 鈥淭o quote the great 叠别测辞苍肠茅: We gotta lay our cards down, down, down ... we got this one wrong.鈥 In the end, Harris took the stage to starsa国际传媒 song, but that was its only appearance.
Last year, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, attended 叠别测辞苍肠茅sa国际传媒 in Maryland after from Beyonce herself. 鈥淭hanks for a fun date night, @Beyonce,鈥 Harris wrote on Instagram.
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Long and Kinnard reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report. Kinnard can be reached at
