A History of Taylor Swift’s Involvement in Politics

Taylor Swift’s announcement that she’ll vote for Vice President Kamala Harris comes six years after the singer first made a political endorsement.

“Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday to her 283 million followers. “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them."

Until 2018, Swift had remained tight-lipped about politics—and she has faced criticism over the years for whether and when she chooses to make her views known. 

Here’s a timeline of when Swift has weighed in on U.S. politics.

Oct. 2018: Endorses Democrat in Tennessee Senate race

Swift first broke her political silence in 2018, when she criticized Tennessee Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn and threw her support behind Democratic candidates Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives.

“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, who said she would vote in the Tennessee midterm elections, wrote in an Instagram post. 

Later that month, Swift posted a photo with her mom on Oct. 30, 2018 in support of Bredesen. “We want leadership, not fear-based extremism,” she wrote. 

A scene in the documentary about the singer that premiered in Jan. 2020, called Taylor Swift: Miss Americana, shows Swift and her team talking about her decision to endorse Bredesen over Blackburn. “I can’t see another commercial [with] her disguising these policies behind the words ‘Tennessee Christian values,’” she said. “ I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That’s not what we stand for.”

While her father and members of her staff worried about security and the effects of taking a political stance, Swift said, “I need to be on the right side of history. … Dad, I need you to forgive me for doing it, because I’m doing it.”

Despite Swift’s support for Bredesen, Blackburn went on to win the election. 

Oct. 2018: Encourages fans to vote early

Also in October, in the caption of a photo of her toes painted red, white, and blue, Swift encouraged her fans to take advantage of early voting, which allows voters to submit their ballots before election day.  

“Something I wish I knew about when I was 18 and voting for the first time: ✨EARLY VOTING✨,” Swift wrote. “It makes it so quick and easy to go and cast your vote before November 6. Early voting starts TODAY in Tennessee and goes to Nov 1 🇺🇸.” 

June 2019: Supports the Equality Act

On June 1st, 2019, Swift shared an open letter on X—then called Twitter—urging Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee to defend LGBTQ rights by supporting the Equality Act, legislation meant to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

She criticized then-President Donald Trump for his opposition to the bill. “I personally reject the President’s stance that his administration ‘supports equal treatment of all’ but that the Equality Act ‘in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights,’” Swift wrote. “One cannot take the position that one supports a community while condemning it in the next breath as going against ‘conscience’ or ‘parental rights.’ That statement implies that there is something wrong with being anything other than heterosexual and cisgender, which is an incredibly harmful message to send to a nation full of healthy and loving families with same-sex, non binary or transgender parents, sons or daughters.”

In the same post, Swift asked her fans to write similar letters to their senators and sign a Change.org petition she started in support of the act. “Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally,” she wrote.

March 2019: Shares she’s finding her political voice

In an essay for Elle titled “30 Things I Learned Before Turning 30”, Swift shared, “I’m finding my voice in terms of politics.”

“I took a lot of time educating myself on the political system and the branches of government that are signing off on bills that affect our day-to-day life,” she wrote. “I saw so many issues that put our most vulnerable citizens at risk, and felt like I had to speak up to try and help make a change.”

She declared that she planned to be more politically active. “Invoking racism and provoking fear through thinly veiled messaging is not what I want from our leaders, and I realized that it actually is my responsibility to use my influence against that disgusting rhetoric,” she said. “I’m going to do more to help.”

Aug. 2019: Calls Trump's presidency 'autocracy’

In an interview with the Guardian, Swift said she regretted staying silent during the 2016 election—and that, if she had spoken out, she would have endorsed former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. 

She called Trump’s presidency “an autocracy” and vowed to act differently in the 2020 election. “I just wanna do everything I can for 2020. I wanna figure out exactly how I can help, what are the most effective ways to help,” she said. 

Swift said that, growing up as a country music star, she was often cautioned to avoid being like The Chicks, who faced blowback from the industry for voicing their opposition to the Iraq War.  “I watched country music snuff that candle out. The most amazing group we had, just because they talked about politics. And they were getting death threats. They were made such an example that basically every country artist that came after that, every label tells you, ‘Just do not get involved, no matter what.’”

Oct. 2020: Endorses Joe Biden

Swift made her first presidential endorsement on October 7, 2020, where she shared her plan to vote for President Joe Biden and Harris in an interview with V Magazine. 

“I will proudly vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election,” she said. “Under their leadership, I believe America has a chance to start the healing process it so desperately needs.”

June 2022: Says she’s ‘terrified’ by overturning of Roe v. Wade

On the day landmark abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade was overturned, the star retweeted an open letter from former First Lady Michelle Obama, and added that she was “absolutely terrified that this is where we are.”

 “After so many decades of people fighting for women’s rights to their own bodies, today’s decision has stripped us of that,” Swift wrote. 

Sept. 2023: Triggered a voter registration surge

On National Voting Day, Swift posted an Instagram story linking to Vote.org and encouraging fans to register to vote. The organization said that more than 35,000 eligible voters registered to vote following her post. 

Aug. 2024: Trump shares fake endorsement

Trump posted AI-generated images of Swift dressed as Uncle Sam and saying, “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” The Truth Social post also appeared to show numerous Swift fans expressing their support for the Republican presidential nominee. 

Swift later said the fake images circulated by Trump inspired her to go public about her support for Harris: “It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” she wrote in her Instagram post endorsing Harris. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”

Sept. 2024: Endorses Harris

The night of the first presidential debate between Trump and Harris, Swift posted on Instagram that she’ll vote for Harris in November. “I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” Swift wrote. “I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”

She encouraged her fans to make their own decisions in the race: “I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.”

She signed off as a “Childless Cat Lady,” referencing Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s controversial comments about his Democratic opponents.