Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift performs during the Shanghai leg of her "1989" concert in Shanghai, November 10, 2015. Picture taken November 10, 2015. Reuters/Stringer

Taylor Swift, for the first time, has broken her political silence to specifically discouraged her followers to vote for Republican Marsha Blackburn. The American Grammy Award-winning artist has detailed her reasons why Blackburn would not be a good representative for her state of Tennessee.

The US will be having their midterm elections on Nov. 6. Swift, who has millions of followers on her social media accounts, had been criticised in the past for staying silent on her political leanings. But on Monday, the 28-year-old singer-songwriters decided to break her silence and use her platform to apparently encouraged her 112 million Instagram followers to vote for Democratic candidates.

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I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. 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. 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. I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. 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. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway. 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. 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! ___

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“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,” she wrote. “I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for 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 in this country towards people of colour is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.”

She said that because of the reasons she cited, she could not vote for Blackburn, who was running for senate in Tennessee. Blackburn’s voting record in Congress, she said, “appals and terrifies me.”

“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 appals and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorisation 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.”

Her plea to her fans was to “please, please educate yourself” on the candidates and vote based on who they believed best represented their values.

She has reminded her fans that the last day to register to vote is on Oct. 9 in her state.

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