Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz says he’s “incredibly grateful” for the endorsement of Taylor Swift following the Harris-Trump debate after the mega-star posted her support on Instagram.

Swift noted Walz’s long-standing support for LGBTQ issues and women’s reproductive rights, and called on her 283 million followers to register to vote if they were eligible.

She signed the post “childless cat lady”, a reference to Republican vice presidential candidate J. D. Vance’s pejorative description of Democratic voters as childless cat ladies.

Walz, a fellow cat owner, described Swift’s statement as eloquent and clear. “That’s the type of courage we need in America - to stand up,” he told MSNBC.

The Minnesota governor also responded to Trump’s reiteration during the debate that he still believes he won the 2020 election, despite Trump saying on a recent podcast that he lost “by a whisker”.

“He’s never had anybody - other than a pillow guy - support his insane rhetoric around this,” Walz said, a reference to MyPillow founder and Trump backer Mike Lindell.

Walz said the Democratic campaign was ready for a repeat of 2020 in which Trump did not admit losing. “We know that he’s not going to probably concede.”