Beyoncé to appear alongside Kamala Harris at Houston rally on Friday

Beyoncé is reportedly scheduled to appear with Vice President Kamala Harris this evening at the Democratic presidential nominee’s rally in Houston.

The Washington Post first reported the news Thursday, citing three sources close to the event. One source even said that the “16 Carriages” singer will perform at the October 25 rally, which will also feature appearances by Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, and country music legend Willie Nelson.

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While rumors circulated that Beyoncé would appear at the Democratic National Convention in August, as Chron notes, the Houston rally marks the singer’s first appearance at a Harris campaign event. The vice president’s campaign has consistently played Beyoncé’s 2016 track “Freedom” at its events since Harris launched her historic bid for the White House after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in late July.

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According to the New York Times, the latest polling averages show former President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump leading Harris in Texas by six points. But while Harris is not expected to win the state on election day, as NBC News notes her Houston rally comes as the Senate race between Sen. Ted Cruz (R) and Rep. Colin Allred (D) has tightened. Allred is also expected to appear at Friday’s rally. The Harris campaign told NBC News this week that the vice president would address the impact of the state’s six-week abortion ban at the event.

A Houston native, Beyoncé has so far not endorsed a 2024 presidential candidate and has remained silent about the race. But she has supported Democratic nominees in the past, performing at former President Barack Obama’s 2008 inauguration and at a rally for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

She has also been a long-time supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. In 2013, she publicly voiced her support for legalizing same-sex marriage. At a Raleigh, North Carolina, stop on her 2016 Formation World Tour, she spoke out against the state’s anti-trans bathroom law, H.B. 2, which was later repealed. After the Trump administration rescinded Obama-era protections for transgender students in public schools in 2017, the singer posted a link to LGBTQ+ youth advocacy organization GLSEN’s 100 Days of Kindness initiative, commenting that “#LGBT students need to know we support them” in a Facebook post.

More recently, Beyoncé released an entire album, 2022’s Renaissance, inspired by and honoring Black queer ballroom and house music culture, dedicating the album to her late gay uncle. During a July 2023 New Jersey stop on her blockbuster tour in support of Renaissance, the singer proclaimed that “Trans is beautiful.”

The following month, Beyoncé posted a message on her website honoring 28-year-old O’Shea Sibley, a Black gay dancer who was murdered in an anti-LGBTQ+ assault while voguing to her music.

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