Taylor Swift Just Endorsed Two Democrats in Tennessee

Taylor Swift does politics now, after very decidedly not doing politics for her entire career. On Sunday, the country-pop crossover icon endorsed two Democrats from Tennessee in a lengthy and personal post on Instagram, her first explicitly partisan political statement. Swift endorsed Senate candidate Phil Bredesen, the former governor of Tennessee; and Jim Cooper, the incumbent in Tennessee’s fifth district, as well as specifically calling out Marsha Blackburn, Bredesen’s opponent in the TN Senate race.

From her post, which did not mince words about Blackburn:

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. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values.

Swift also mentioned her silence on political issues before and made her prior voting record (at least as far as 2016 is concerned) pretty clear.

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. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.

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.

In the past, Swift has been so ambiguous about her political views that people devolved into analyzing her wardrobe choices for hints as to her decision in the 2016 election (she almost certainly voted for Clinton, so maybe they were right), but this is a pretty strong vote of support for Bredesen and Cooper.

And it could have an actual impact on the election: Bredesen is a hardcore centrist who caught flak for saying he would have voted to confirm Kavanaugh, but polling shows the race is still a “tossup,” according to Five Thirty Eight.

Here’s the full post:

Update: 9:14 P.M. 10/7/2018:

Charlie Kirk is extremely mad online.

(Swift, an already ludicrously rich person, made over $27 million from one city on her Reputation tour, so her career seems to be in decent shape).