Kamala Harris to Appear on “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” Finale
The segment airing at the start of the episode will urge "Drag Race" viewers to cast their vote for LGBTQ-supportive politicians.
Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will appear in a cameo on the finale of season 9 of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars tonight, Friday, July 26.
The episode will start with Harris, surrounded by judges and guest stars from the finale, urging viewers to vote in November’s election.
Also featured in the short public service announcement are longtime Drag Race judge Michelle Visage, acclaimed choreographer Jamal Sims, singer Lance Bass, comedienne Leslie Jones, and actor Cheyenne Jackson.
The message was filmed when Harris was still the presumptive vice presidential nominee, and before incumbent President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election.
Biden has since thrown his support behind Harris, as have many elected Democrats, left-leaning organizations, and LGBTQ advocacy groups.
“Each day we are seeing our rights and freedoms under attack, including the right of everyone to be who they are, love who they love, openly and with pride,” Harris says in the video clip, as reported by the Hollywood news outlet Deadline.
“So, as we fight back against these attacks, let’s all remember, no one is alone. We are all in this together, and your vote is your power. So please make sure your voice is heard this November, and register to vote at Vote.gov.”
Since nailing down the support of enough delegates to be considered the party’s presumptive nominee, Harris — who has already been viciously attacked by right-wing pundits and online trolls — has sought to rally Democratic base groups to her cause and unite the party.
As part of that effort, she has deliberately reached out to wayward members of the Democratic-leaning coalition, including women, Black voters, young voters, and LGBTQ voters — some of whom may have been considering backing the Republicans or third-party candidates in November’s election if Biden remained on the ticket.
Even though the Drag Race segment was filmed when she was still Biden’s running mate, Harris’s appearance on the show has the potential to reach casual or infrequent viewers who may not be up-to-date on the most recent news, in the hopes of galvanizing them to register to vote ahead of November and cast their ballots for her. (As most political scientists will tell you, the majority of people who will cast ballots don’t tune into a political campaign until the last few weeks.)
Harris’s appearance also gives an implicit nod to LGBTQ people that a Harris administration will be much friendlier to our community than a second Trump administration.
Drag Race fans, in particular, may be sensitive about developments, such as the green-lighting of a statewide ban in Tennessee, or attempts by right-wingers to label drag a form of “obscenity” and prohibit it from taking place, especially in public spaces or venues where children might be present.
Particularly at a time when drag, expressions of trans identity, and gender nonconformity, are under attack, aligning herself with the stars of the Emmy-winning television franchise lets Harris “prove” her status as an ally to the LGBTQ community while simultaneously allowing her to court other voter groups in her stump speeches on the campaign trail.
Earlier this year, former contestants of RuPaul’s Drag Race started Drag PAC, the first-ever drag queen-led political action committee, which seeks to push back against these efforts to restrict freedom of expression by supporting LGBTQ-friendly politicians in elections.
The queens behind the PAC include Alaska, Jinkx Monsoon, BenDeLaCreme, Peppermint, and Monét X Change. They were motivated to become politically involved because of the attacks on drag performers, the venues that host them, and even private citizens who attend their shows, currently occurring nationwide.
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