Beyoncé Endorses Kamala Harris for President at Packed Houston Rally

Thousands packed into Shell Energy Stadium on Oct. 25 as Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally. A reported 30,000 people attended the event, filling the stadium in Houston’s Second Ward. In truth, it felt like far more, as lines wrapped around the stadium’s perimeter. Those in attendance witnessed something remarkable: in a rare political speech, hometown heroine Beyoncé endorsed Harris’s presidential campaign.

The “Rally for Reproductive Freedom“ focused on abortion rights in the wake of Roe v. Wade‘s reversal. GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe in 2022. Texas had already passed a near-total abortion ban in 2021, but the Supreme Court’s decision triggered a Texas law making abortion a felony punishable by up to life in prison. There are no exceptions for rape or incest, with only narrow allowances to save the mother’s life.

The rally featured several moving testimonials from people affected by these laws. One speaker, Yesenia Gamez of San Antonio, learned she was pregnant in October 2021—just two weeks after her husband’s deployment. She received treatment for her ectopic pregnancy, but that was before the ban. Now undergoing her second round of IVF, she shared fears about what could happen if the Supreme Court targets in-vitro fertilization, just as it did abortion.

IVF helps many couples and individuals conceive, and one attendee cited it as a reason to support Harris. “As a gay American dad who had kids through IVF, the Supreme Court is on the ballot, and I don’t want it filled with (more) right-wing extremists who will take away my rights,” wrote author and talk-show host Andy Cohen.

Likewise, Beyoncé cited parenthood as a reason for supporting Harris. “I’m not here as a celebrity,” she said. “I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother. A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in—a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies.”

“It’s time to sing a new song,” she declared. “The old notes of downfall, discord, despair no longer resonate. Generations of loved ones before us are whispering a prophecy, a quest, a calling, an anthem. Our moment is right now,” she said. “So let’s do this. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give a big, loud Texas welcome to the next president of the United States: Vice President Kamala Harris.”

Harris took the stage to thunderous applause, warning of the consequences of Trump’s policies for reproductive rights. “When Donald Trump was president, he hand-selected three members of the Supreme Court with the intention of undoing Roe v. Wade—and, as he intended, they did,” Harris said. “Now, more than 20 states have a Trump abortion ban. One in three American women lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban, including Texas and every state in the South except Virginia.”

“Many of these bans are causing care to be denied until a woman is at death’s door,” Harris added. “Many have no exceptions for rape and incest, which is immoral. Let us agree: one does not have to abandon their faith to believe the government should not control her body. If she chooses, she will talk with her priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam—not some… people in the state legislature.”

Harris criticized the surge in abortion restrictions across the South. She noted that many states passing these laws rank among the worst in maternal mortality rates. “For decades, these extremist leaders, who have neglected prenatal care, maternity care, and postpartum care, are now claiming to care about women and children. Well, I’ve got a question for them: Where have you been?”

“Where have you been when it comes to prioritizing care for women and children? Where have you been when it comes to helping pregnant women and new mothers? Where have you been when it comes to affordable childcare?” she asked. “These same extremist leaders have refused to extend the child tax credit, which lifted half of America’s children out of poverty. They’ve blocked proposals to lower childcare costs for working parents and tried to cut WIC and SNAP benefits for low-income mothers and children. The hypocrisy abounds.”

Harris declared Houston “ground zero in the fight for reproductive care” and urged Houstonians to vote. “Your vote is your voice,” she said. “Your voice is your power.”