Taylor Swift Broke Her Political Silence With A Powerful New Statement

Though a couple of of her pop peers vocally campaigned for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential election — perhaps most notably Katy Perry and Demi Lovato — Taylor Swift remained silent and never made her affiliation or support known. A torrent of takes followed, some of which even linked Swift to white supremacy, as did an inevitable backlash to backlash.


within the past year, Swift has been steady about her work, releasing and touring beyond her sixth album, Reputation. Yet on Sunday (October 8), Swift broke her long silence on politics with a lengthy Instagram message where she discussed out against Tennessee representative Marsha Blackburn, a Republican.


Swift, who mentioned she'll be voting in Tennessee for next month's midterms, started the post by acknowledging that she's never weighed in before. "In the past I have been reluctant to publicly voice my political suggestions, however due to a number of events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that right now she wrote before going on to detail about what informs her voting decisions.


"I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG," Swift continued. "I believe that the systemic racism we still visualize in this nation towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent."


This all leads to Blackburn, a "politically incorrect and overjoyed of it" candidate by her own admission who served as vice chair of President Trump's transition team. Swift mentioned Blackburn's voting record "appalls and terrifies" her.


"As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for females in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn," she wrote and listed Blackburn's several unprogressive views before pledging her support to two Democrats, Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for the House.


"For a lot of us, @we could never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100 [percent] on every offer, although we have to vote anyway," Swift wrote near the end of the note. "So several intelligent, mindful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and right now have the correct and privilege to create their vote count." Read the full post right here.