She’ll be running for office next.
Taylor Swift’s first ever foray into politics—a passionate Instagram post railing against the erosion of minority and women’s rights under the Trump presidency—resulted in a flood of new voter registrations. The singer flexed her star power again Tuesday night, urging people “get out and vote” at the American Music Awards.
“This award and every single award given out tonight were voted on by the people,” said the singer, who was dressed in a showstopping metallic dress for the celeb-packed industry jamboree. “And you know what else is voted on by the people is the midterm elections on Nov. 6. Get out and vote! I love you guys!”
ADVERTISEMENT
Swift has previously urged, in a general, nonpartisan way, participation in the rites of democracy, but her appeal last night was given teeth by her recent excoriation of Republican Party politics.
Swift made the dramatic call to arms on a record third trip to the podium, while collecting the AMA’s top honor, Artist of the Year, having already collected the gongs for Favorite Tour and Favorite Pop/Rock Album.
Swift was very much the star of the show, opening proceedings with a performance of her track “I Did Something Bad.”
After many years of staying out of politics, during which she was embraced by some on the right, Swift launched an impassioned attack on Republicans this week, and endorsed Tennessee Democrats Phil Bredesen and Rep. Jim Cooper running in their Senate and House races, respectively.
Swift trashed Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn in her post, saying, “Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me.”
Her comments provoked Trump to say he now liked Swift’s music “25 percent less.” There may also have been more tangible results, with the nonpartisan advocacy group Vote.org reporting tens of thousands of new voter registrations nationwide in the wake of Swift’s Instagram post.
There was a particular bump in registrations in her home state of Tennessee.
Swift’s political awakening comes after many years in which the star was claimed by the right, and never spoke out to correct such assumptions.
However, in her post Sunday, Swift said she felt compelled to speak out “due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years.”
There has been speculation that Swift’s decision was spurred by Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court and the subsequent mocking by the president of the then-federal judge’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.
As The Daily Beast’s Amy Zimmerman recalled this week, in 2017, Swift took the stand to detail how a Denver radio host groped her during a 2013 meet-and-greet. She won the case, and was subsequently celebrated as a “Silence Breaker” in Time’s Person of the Year issue.
“I would tell people who find themselves in this situation that there is a great deal of blame placed on the victims in cases of sexual harassment and assault,” she told Time. “You could be blamed for the fact that it happened, for reporting it and blamed for how you reacted. You might be made to feel like you’re overreacting, because society has made this stuff seem so casual…You should not be blamed for waiting 15 minutes or 15 days or 15 years to report sexual assault or harassment.”
