Taylor Swift has a blank space, baby — and she’ll write her vote.
The “Look What You Made Me Do” singer, 28, inspired a spike in voter registration after issuing a rare public political opinion.
“We are up to 65,000 registrations in a single 24-hour period since T. Swift’s post,” Kamari Guthrie, Vote.org’s director of communications, told BuzzFeed News.
Saying “Thank God for Taylor Swift,” Guthrie added that 155,940 people checked out the website – which gets an average of 14,078 hits per day – in a 24-hour period.
Swift especially made an impact in her adopted state. “Vote.org saw [Tennessee] registrations spike specifically since Taylor’s post,” Guthrie told BuzzFeed News. Vote.org reportedly raked in at least 2,144 new voter registrations from Tennessee in the last 36 hours — after registering 2,811 voters there total in September.
On Sunday, Swift broke her silence on politics to endorse two Democratic candidates running in Tennessee midterm elections.
“I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee,” Swift began her lengthy message. “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.”
Swift continued, “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.”
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After explaining why she was voting for Phil Bredesen instead of Rep. Marsha Blackburn for Senate, and for Jim Cooper for the House of Representatives, Swift gave her fans a call to action.
“So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count,” she said. “But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting!”
On Monday, President Donald Trump responded to Swift’s post in footage shared by ABC News. Trump said, “Let’s say that I like Taylor’s music about 25 percent less now.”
He said, “Well, Marsha Blackburn is doing a very good job in Tennessee. She’s leading now substantially, which she should. She’s a tremendous woman. I’m sure Taylor Swift doesn’t know anything about her.”
"Let's say that I like Taylor's music about 25% less now," Pres. Trump jokes following Taylor Swift's endorsement of Democratic Tennessee senatorial candidate Phil Bredesen. https://t.co/D0fh71pQFl pic.twitter.com/4qeR6fCZcr
— ABC News (@ABC) October 8, 2018
Swift’s message received support from Blake Lively, former frenemy Katy Perry, Chrissy Teigen, Karlie Kloss (who is engaged to Joshua Kushner, Ivanka Trump‘s brother-in-law), Emily Ratajkowski, Anna Faris, Kevin McHale and others.
.@VoteMarsha, look what you made her do. @taylorswift13 doesn’t like your little games and she wants Tennesseans to know that you’ve been in the swamp long enough. It’s time for some fresh air up in Washington. https://t.co/DC11TVODMh
— Phil Bredesen (@PhilBredesen) October 8, 2018
Bredesen, one of the candidates Swift endorsed, tweeted out some Swift references in response. “@VoteMarsha, look what you made her do. @taylorswift13 doesn’t like your little games and she wants Tennesseans to know that you’ve been in the swamp long enough. It’s time for some fresh air up in Washington.”
