Beyoncé expected to perform at Houston rally for Kamala Harris on Friday

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Beyoncé is expected to look Friday successful her hometown of Houston astatine a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris, according to 3 radical acquainted with the matter.

Harris’ statesmanlike run has taken connected Beyoncé’s 2016 way “Freedom” arsenic its anthem, and the singer’s planned show brings a high-level of prima powerfulness to what has go a cardinal taxable of the Democratic nominee’s bid: freedom.

The 3 radical were not authorized to publically sermon the substance and spoke connected information of anonymity. The Harris run did not instantly comment.

Harris volition caput to the reliably Republican authorities conscionable 10 days earlier Election Day successful an effort to refocus her run against erstwhile President Donald Trump connected reproductive care, which Democrats spot arsenic a make-or-break contented this year.

Beyoncé‘s quality is expected to gully adjacent much attraction to the lawsuit — and to Harris’ closing message.

Harris’ Houston travel is acceptable to diagnostic women who person been affected by Texas’ restrictive termination laws, which took effect aft the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade successful 2022. She has campaigned successful different states with restrictive termination laws, including Georgia, among the 7 astir intimately contested states.

Harris has centered her run astir the thought that Trump is simply a menace to American freedoms, from reproductive and LGBTQ rights to the state to beryllium harmless from weapon violence.

Beyoncé gave Harris support aboriginal successful her run to usage “Freedom,” a soulful way from her 2016 landmark medium “Lemonade,” successful her debut ad. Harris has utilized its thumping chorus arsenic a walk-out song astatine rallies ever since.

Beyoncé’s enactment of Harris isn’t the archetypal clip the Grammy victor has aligned with a Democratic politician. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, danced arsenic Beyoncé performed astatine a statesmanlike inaugural shot successful 2009.

In 2013, she sang the nationalist anthem astatine Obama’s 2nd inauguration. Three years later, she and her husband, Jay-Z, performed astatine a pre-election concert for Democrat Hillary Clinton successful Cleveland.

“Look however acold we’ve travel from having nary dependable to being connected the brink of past — again,” Beyoncé said astatine the time. “But we person to vote.”

A January canvass by Ipsos for the anti-polarization nonprofit With Honor recovered that 64% of Democrats had a favorable presumption of Beyoncé compared with conscionable 32% of Republicans. Overall, Americans were much apt to person a favorable sentiment than an unfavorable one, 48% to 33%.

Speculation implicit whether the superstar would look astatine this summer’s Democratic National Convention successful Chicago reached a fever pitch connected the gathering’s last night, with online rumors swirling aft personage quality tract TMZ posted a communicative that said: “Beyoncé is successful Chicago, and getting acceptable to popular retired for Kamala Harris connected the last nighttime of the Democratic convention.” The tract attributed it to “multiple sources successful the know,” nary of them named.

About an hr aft Harris ended her speech, TMZ updated its story to say, “To punctuation the large Beyoncé: We gotta laic our cards down, down, down … we got this 1 wrong.”

In the end, Harris took the signifier to star’s song, but that was its lone appearance.

Last year, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, attended Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour successful Maryland aft getting tickets from Beyoncé herself.

“Thanks for a amusive day night, @Beyonce,” Harris wrote connected Instagram.