CHICAGO —
Kelly Jacobs, a delegate from Mississippi, made 1,000 sparkly beaded friendship bracelets reading “Swifty Voter” and “Kamala” to hand out at the Democratic National Convention.
She started making the jewelry referencing pop phenom Taylor Swift earlier this year to urge young white women to cast ballots.
“I paid for them, I made them, and then we are able to walk up to a young white woman and say, ‘Are you a Taylor Swift Fan?’” Jacobs said. “And they say they are. I say, ‘Well, would you like this Swifty voter bracelet?’ And then I ask them to please vote on Tuesday, November the Fifth for whomever they like. So it’s a campaign strategy that’s really gone over well. People want the friendship bracelets.”
She said she focused on white women because in her state white voters tend to be Republicans.
She spent about $3,000 on materials for the jewelry, and had handed out about 100 before the convention began on Monday.
The bracelets have become popular at Swift’s concerts, where fans trade them. Democrats hope the singer, who has an enormous following, will endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. She announced her backing of President Biden and Harris four years ago by posting a picture with a plate of cookies decorated to look like the running mates’ campaign logo.
Kelly Jacobs at the Democratic National Convention.
(Seema Mehta / Los Angeles Times)
Jacobs, who described herself as a community activist under orders from her husband not to get arrested at the convention, was wearing a homemade dress with large pictures of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a black fascinator hat with Harris’ name woven into it.
“I enjoy wearing political fashion because I’m a white girl and nobody believes I’m a Democrat in Mississippi,” the 65-year-old said, adding that she planned to wear a dress at the convention that features Harris as Lady Justice with Lady Liberty behind her on the front and Swift on the back.
“The convention is important, because a lot of people will be looking for someone who looks like them. And so that’s why it’s successful, because we will look so different. We’re not all white-haired men and women, and so people will see themselves in the delegates on the floor,” the California native added. “I aspire with my various collection of Swifty hats and clothes and Kamala clothes to try and get the younger voters who are Swifty fans to register.”
