About three weeks before the midterm elections, New Jersey native, Bleachers frontman and frequent Taylor Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff, though not a Texan, threw his support behind Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico, who is running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
At Bleachers’ sunset set Saturday, during the second weekend of Austin City Limits Music Festival, he played a short clip of Talarico encouraging people to vote in the upcoming election.
Talarico attended the festival Friday but did not appear onstage. Instead, he visited with fans, took photos and shook hands. He told the American-Statesman he was happy to be back at ACL. The visit marked his return to the campaign trail after recovering from the flu, following several days of speculation about his whereabouts.
Before launching into set-closer “Stop Making This Hurt,” Antonoff took off his shirt and changed into a “Talarico for Texas” shirt.
Antonoff frequently speaks out on political and social issues. Most recently, he has changed lyrics during “Stop Making This Hurt” to include lines such as “Free Palestine,” in reference to the war in Gaza, and “F— ICE forever,” advocating against the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.