Taylor Swift has enjoyed massive amounts of success, doing so while not being directly open about her political affiliations. However, the singer turned the heads of her 112 million followers on Instagram by endorsing a pair of Democrats running for Congress in her home state of Tennessee and voter registration numbers have reportedly spiked.
From Swift’s Instagram page:
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. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives.
The endorsement has gotten responses from prominent members of the Republican Party, including former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee who wrote via Twitter, “So @taylorswift13 has every right to be political but it won’t impact election unless we allow 13 yr old girls to vote. Still with #MarshaBlackburn.”
According to Buzzfeed News, Swift dipping her toes in the political waters have yielded positive gains in registration in Tennessee and nationwide.
From Buzzfeed News:
“We are up to 65,000 registrations in a single 24-hour period since T. Swift’s post,” said Kamari Guthrie, director of communications for Vote.org.
For context, 190,178 new voters were registered nationwide in the entire month of September, while 56,669 were registered in August.
In Swift’s home state of Tennessee, where she voiced support for two Democratic candidates running in this year’s midterms, voter registrations have also jumped.
“Vote.org saw [Tennessee] registrations spike specifically since Taylor’s post,” Guthrie said. The organization has received 5,183 in the state so far this month — at least 2,144 of which were in the last 36 hours, she said, up from 2,811 new Tennessee voter registrations for the entire month of September and just 951 in August.
Good job, Swifties.
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Photo: WENN