For much of her career, Swift largely stayed away from politics. That changed in 2018 when she endorsed Tennessee Democrat Phil Bredesen in his Senate race against Marsha Blackburn, who was a Republican congresswoman at the time. In a lengthy Instagram post, Swift said that, in the past, she’d “been reluctant to publicly voice” her political opinions but that, “due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now.”
“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,” Swift said.
Bredesen lost the race to Blackburn in the red state, but Swift spoke more about her decision to publicly endorse Democrats in her 2020 documentary “Miss Americana,” in which she revealed regrets about not speaking out against Trump in 2016. In the documentary, Swift is told by her team that her endorsement of Bredesen could make the public believe she’s condemning Trump.
“I don’t care if they write that,” Swift says. “I’m sad I didn’t say it two years ago.”
Brennan Suen, deputy director of external affairs at left-leaning accountability outlet Media Matters, said that while Swift enjoyed “years and years of praise” for not speaking about politics, conservative pundits now appear to be trying to get her to “shut up and sing again” by whipping up their base into a frenzy to scare Swift away from making an endorsement.
Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren, for example, said on Monday that if Swift “wanted to be protective of her legacy, she’d stay out of politics.”
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