Taylor Swift Endorses Joe Biden: ‘America Has a Chance to Start the Healing Process’
Musician Taylor Swift is on a roll in 2020. She released her eighth studio album, Folklore, which set Billboard records. But she’s also used this year to further clarify her thoughts on politics, continuing her more bold stance in previous years. Discover why Swift chose to officially endorse Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
Taylor Swift is a proud Democrat
Though she kept quiet about the political views in the past, Swift revealed she supports Democratic candidates in 2018, when she came out against Republican Marsha Blackburn in her home state of Tennesse. She showed support for Blackburn’s opponent, a decision she later explained.
“We need to stop dissecting why someone’s on our side or if they’re on our side in the right way or if they phrased it correctly,” Swift told Rolling Stone in 2019. “We need to not have the right kind of Democrat and the wrong kind of Democrat. We need to just be like, ‘You’re a Democrat? Sick. Get in the car. We’re going to the mall.'”
She’s spoken out against Donald Trump
Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Swift opted not to endorse Hillary Clinton, telling Rolling Stone she worried she would have been “a liability” to Clinton’s campaign, fearing how Donald Trump “weaponizing the idea of the celebrity endorsement.” She added, “I just knew I wasn’t going to help.”
However, in the years since, Swift has come out against Trump and his policies repeatedly. Even when she doesn’t call him by name (like when she won at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards), she’s shown she isn’t a fan. In 2020, Swift has continued on this track, even tweeting at him directly (above).
Swift formerly endorsed Joe Biden
Given her disdain for Trump and his administration, many felt they knew how the artist planned to vote. However, Swift did not formally endorse the Democratic candidate for president, Joe Biden, for some time. The day she did was an appropriate one: Wednesday, October 7, 2020, the day of the first Vice Presidential debate.
“I spoke to @vmagazine about why I’ll be voting for Joe Biden for president,” Swift wrote in a tweet. “So apt that it’s come out on the night of the VP debate. Gonna be watching and supporting @KamalaHarris by yelling at the tv a lot. And I also have custom cookies,” she finished, sharing a photo of the product.
Why she’s behind the Biden/Harris ticket
Swift spoke with V Magazine for the Though Leaders Issue, in which she explained why she supports the Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris. Read her full response below.
The change we need most is to elect a president who recognizes that people of color deserve to feel safe and represented, that women deserve the right to choose what happens to their bodies, and that the LGBTQIA+ community deserves to be acknowledged and included. Everyone deserves a government that takes global health risks seriously and puts the lives of its people first. The only way we can begin to make things better is to choose leaders who are willing to face these issues and find ways to work through them.
“I will proudly vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election,” Swift finished. “Under their leadership, I believe America has a chance to start the healing process it so desperately needs.”
