Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia did not know what song she would want Beyoncé to perform ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris delivering her speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president.
But she had some ideas of what not to pick.
“I feel like there might be some state-related controversies if she sings the new Cowboy Carter song celebrating Texas,” Spanberger, a candidate for governor told The Independent as she topped condiments on her hot dog at the United Center, referring to the song “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
As the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention droned on, speculation swirled once the United Center in Chicago went on lockdown. Many delegates on the floor dressed up in stetsons and wore red-white-and-blue sashes in the style that Miss Carter-Knowles wore on the cover of her latest country album.
When The Chicks, who collaborated with Beyoncé on the song Daddy Lessons on her album Lemonade, sang the Star-Spangled Banner, that looked like a hint Beyoncé might have made the trek to Chicago. While Beyoncé had previously raised money for Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and performed at his inaugural, she had not set foot in a convention.
The rumors existed in the context of everything that had come before in the Harris-Knowles relationship. The singer, originally from Houston, Texas and the vice president have not made their mutual love a secret. The singer gave Harris and her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, tickets to the Renaissance Tour in 2023 to the tune of $1,655.92 in 2023.
Beyonce’s Freedom has been used as the theme song of the Harris campaign, with the vice president walking out on stage at the DNC on Monday and on Thursday to the song.
One X user wrote that the “DNC started that Beyonce rumor and you can’t tell me otherwise.”
But then the night droned on and on and Jay-Z’s wife and Blue Ivy Carter’s mother did not show.
“I heard it was going to be Taylor Swift,” Andrea Yagoda from Ohio told The Independent as she sat on the floor of the third story of the arena, but seemed unfazed.
Then, Harris took the stage and still, no Beyoncé. This was not because of a lack of want for celebrities at the convention. Steph Curry, who plays for Harris’s favorite team the Golden State Warriors, made a video appearance. Steve Kerr, a legend for the Chicago Bulls who also coached Curry for the Warriors and for the US men’s basketball team for the Olympics, spoke on the first night.
Kerry Washington, the star of Scandal, emceed most of the fourth night while Mindy Kaling hosted part of the third night.
Some men could be overheard after Harris’s speech complaining that the singer did not show up.
Nevertheless, Democrats persisted and seemed unburdened, a phrase used regularly by Harris in her speeches, by the miscommunication that had been.
“A little bit more excited that Kamala accepted the nomination,” Yolanda Washington of Washington, DC told The Independent.
Similarly, Idalia Maya from Texas had other ideas.
“It’s okay. who knows why she didn’t show up, but we use her music and we’re anticipating her coming to the inaugural ball,” she told The Independent.
Maya said she hoped that not only would the singer campaign for Harris in the Lone Star state, but that Latino artists would to be on deck.
Still, as Democrats and delegates filed out of the arena, one man could be overheard complaining that Beyoncé did not show up.