After keeping her political views hidden, Taylor Swift boldly breaks her silence.

Photo via Sebastian Vital/Flickr

Throughout Taylor Swift’s career she’s been criticized for not speaking out about politics. Given the tremendous power she has over young people, many feel she should use her massive platform to speak out against Donald Trump.

Given Swift’s country roots and support in America’s heartland, it’s understandable that she’d sidestep the third rail of politics, but for some, Swift’s silence has equaled complicity.

“I’m not gonna sit here and go into my political views cause that’s not what I chose to do. I chose to do music,” Swift has said.

Over the past few years, Swift has supported women’s rights and gay marriage, but those stances are hardly controversial in 2018. In 2009, she gave a perfectly-worded response to the election of Barack Obama.

“I’ve never seen this country so happy about a political decision in my entire time of being alive,” Swift said in 2009 without mentioning Obama’s name. “I’m so glad this was my first election.”

But on Sunday, October 7, Swift took to Instagram to break her political silence by endorsing two Democrats in the November midterm elections. “I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives,” she wrote.

Swift said she will not vote for Republican senator Marsha Blackburn because of her discriminatory voting record.

“She voted against equal pay for women,” Swift wrote. “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.”

Swift’s endorsement in the Tennessee senate race could have huge implications. According to Real Clear Politics, Blackburn currently has a two-point lead over Bredesen.

Swift’s endorsement also comes with a call to action for young Tennesseans to get out the vote. “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,” Swift wrote.

October 9 is the last day to register to vote in the state of Tennessee before the midterms.

In her post, Swift took a veiled swipe at Trump, saying that the events of the “past two years” have made it difficult for her to remain silent about politics.

“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,” she wrote. “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.”

Time will tell if Swift becomes the victim of a heartland backlash like the Dixie Chicks back in 2003.

Here’s how social media is handling the new, woke Taylor.