Nineteen U.S. lawmakers and political action committees, along with some of their supporters, will enjoy Taylor Swift’s Monday and Tuesday night concerts at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., from reserved private boxes.
Politicians first booked their private boxes at Swift’s concert months ago, CNN reports. Lawmakers and PACs charged between $750 and $2,500 per ticket for supporters who wanted to share the show with D.C. politicians.
Among the political attendees is Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), whose daughter Clara Beyer created the viral @FeministTSwift Twitter account, which adapts lyrics of the singer-songwriter into feminist quips. In an interview with National Journal published Monday, the congressman called the singer's lyrics “very much a part of the fabric of the family."
Beyer said he thinks the motivation behind the Swift concert fundraiser comes out of the desire to “find interesting ways for [donors] to deliver the check.” He noted that if donors have teenage children, they can bring them along.
For “poor government-affairs people,” meanwhile, Beyer said, concerts provide a more fun campaigning experience, since they “spend so much time having lunches at [Washington, D.C., restaurant] Charlie Palmer's."
Fundraising at Swift concerts is nothing new. Politicians took advantage of the artist's D.C. concerts in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Washington's Verizon Center has been a hotbed for concert fundraisers, helping politicians raise money at shows put on by Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, the Rolling Stones and Jay-Z, among others, in 2013 and 2014.
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