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Running until the final general election results come in, the Deadline ElectionLine podcast spotlights the 2024 campaign and the blurred lines between politics and entertainment in modern America. Hosted by Deadline political editor Ted Johnson and executive editor Dominic Patten, the podcast features commentary and interviews with top lawmakers and entertainment figures. As this race turns into a bare-knuckles brawl, follow all the campaign news on the ElectionLine hub on Deadline.
“I do believe in the value of the arts and culture in our politics,” Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-FL) says today on the Deadline ElectionLine podcast about the power of Kamala Harris getting an endorsement from Taylor Swift, or Beyoncé offering more support beyond use of her music and money.
“If you look at movement history, the times where social movements have actually had the most change and sustain the most power, have been the movement has been blurred with culture,” the first-term Congressman notes.
As the tsunami of a possible Swift endorsement rose up following a posting the performer did on Instagram this week with a familiar looking silhouette, Frost now reveals he was taken aback at first.
“It’s funny, because when a bunch of people sent me that, I got a little angry, and I was like, ‘Why the hell would you do it that way?’” the congressman says of Swift’s August 6 posting from her Warsaw shows. “I actually thought it was the Vice President, and I was just like, ‘Why would you do that?’” Frost added. “And then when I realized, when I heard it was a dancer, I actually had, I had a lot of relief, because I was like, thank God that wasn’t the actual rollout here on this very important election.”
Elected in 2022 to represent. Florida’s 10th congressional district, the 27-year-old Frost is the youngest member of the House and the first member from Generation Z. Still, he didn’t bring up his age during his race for Congress unless it was for fundraising, as he told us on today’s podcast. He did discuss what it was like to be the only elected member of his generation in the hall of power and trying to stay true to his “100% authentic self.”
On the national advisory board for the Harris campaign, Frost says it is important to remember the true role celebrity endorsements play in the big picture of American politics.
“You know, our job as organizers is we want to get people into these spaces, and then our second job, once they’re there, is to activate them and give them a political home,” the congressman says. “And when we have the ability to really tap into culture and culture makers and people who usually don’t talk about politics when they do, sometimes it’s just that much more powerful because it’s rare.”
“And that might be a little bit of a hot take, because a lot of people would say like, well, you know, we want Taylor Swift to talk about politics all the time, and I agree,” he says. “I mean, I would rather have that. But in absence of that, when she does it …a lot of times makes the news and gets people excited.”
“The numbers show, it matters.”
When it comes to the potential VP picked by the VP, Frost is equally blunt.
“I’m very happy with the pick, I love Tim Walz,” Frost says of the Minnesota governor that Harris unveiled on April 6 as her running mate. “He’s a real uniter.”
“I mean when you have Joe Manchin and Bernie Sanders agreeing on something, that’s a good thing,” the congressman half-joked of Walz’s wide appeal.
Going to the last question we ask all our guests, Frost has two picks for his favorite fictional POTUS, kinda — so take a listen.
Tossing around promises of meeting up with Harris on ABC after all and two other September debates, Donald Trump held a factually challenged press conference this week in part to make the point that Harris has not held one herself. Floating a full one-on-one sit-down soon, the VP was quick to chat with reporters later Thursday as she was leaving a campaign event in Michigan. On today’s podcast, we debate whether the the issue of media availability really matters to voters when so much of a campaign plays outside traditional media.
Also: Elon Musk’s X lawsuit this week against advertisers for not buying up spots on the platform is a new chapter in litigation novelties, but it’s also baffling from a business sense. Does deep-pocketed Trump supporter Musk only like capitalism when it works for him?
In that vein, stay with ElectionLine all the way through to Election Day. Subscribe to the Deadline ElectionLine podcast on Spotify, Apple Music, iHeart and all podcast platforms.
