Taylor Swift breaks longtime political silence, comes out swinging for Democratic Party in the midterms

| 9:43 pm EDT October 7, 2018
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It’s not uncommon for pop stars to offer support for Democratic Party candidates. But when it comes to Taylor Swift, it’s always been a different story. She’s straddled the line between being a pop star and a country music star, and she’s always kept her politics close to the vest. That is, until today.

In a move whose timing cannot be ignored, Taylor Swift endorsed Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen today over Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn in the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee, which has long been Swift’s home state. She made a lengthy post to her Instagram page, which began with “I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now.” That last part was almost certainly a reference to Donald Trump.

Swift went on to say “I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me.”

Taylor Swift will face backlash from her more conservative fans in the country music world for this. But it’s clear that she’s past the point of caring about that. By mobilizing her fans to turn out and vote Democrat, Swift may have just altered the course of the Senate race in Tennessee – and the races going on elsewhere. It seems we’ve reached the point where women have decided to take over, regardless of how the patriarchy might try to retaliate against them.