Katy Perry’s Mom Is Running for Office

Katy Perry could soon have a politician in the family. The “Chained to the Rhythm” singer’s mother, Mary Hudson, has formally declared her candidacy for a seat on her local Republican Party’s central committee in Santa Barbara County, California. If successful, Hudson will represent the Santa Barbara County Republican Party, with central committee members tasked with promoting their party’s platform and supporting their party’s candidates in local elections.

The news comes after the singer’s mother was seen talking to locals and gathering signatures to qualify for the 2024 ballot at Pierra LaFond & Co market in Montecito, California on Veteran’s Day. At the time, she told the Daily Mail in a statement, “we want to get the conservatives in there to make a difference,” going on to call the county’s current GOP officials “lackadaisical.” According to Santa Barbara County’s elections office, per PEOPLE, Hudson, 75, filed her candidate paperwork in late November. She is qualified to appear on the March ballot.

Hudson and her husband Keith, 76, are Pentecostal Christian pastors who have been active in the Santa Barbara spiritual community for four decades, per the Daily Mail. The couple raised their children – Perry, 38, David, 35, and Angela, 40 – in Santa Barbara. Perry has previously spoken about her strict, religious upbringing, previously acknowledging that she put her parents “through hell and back – and back… My mom has prayed for me my entire life, hoping I’d come back to God. I never left him, I was just a little bit secular, I was more materialistic and more career-driven.”

Perry has also been open about maintaining a close relationship with her parents despite their difference in political reviews. The singer, who performed at President Biden’s inauguration concert in 2020 and supported Hillary Clinton’s 2016 bid for office, previously revealed that her parents voted for Donald Trump, saying in a speech at Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election night party in New York City, per TIME magazine, “tonight my parents voted for Trump. But you know what? We will still all be sitting at the same table for Thanksgiving.”

“And this is the moment we need to remember: that we all love our parents, and we all love our children. And I can rest easy knowing that both of my young nieces at home will never see themselves less than equal, anything other than equal,” she continued. “So, remember, today is not just a finish line. It also marks the beginning of all the work we must come together to do.”

The singer and her mother have showcased their tight bond as recently as November, when Hudson took to Instagram to share a photo of herself and her daughter at the final show of Perry’s Las Vegas residency. She captioned the snapshot, “Katy’s last night of her 2 year residency at Resorts World Las Vegas.” Perry has not publicly commented on her mother’s political run at this time.