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.