Taylor Swift, the pop music titan who has been notably apolitical in turbulent political times, broke her silence on Sunday and endorsed two Democratic candidates running for election in Tennessee. 
 
 In a post on Instagram, Ms. Swift said she planned to vote for Phil Bredesen, who is competing in a tight Senate race against a Republican candidate backed by President Trump, and Representative Jim Cooper, an incumbent who represents the Nashville area. 
 
 “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,” Ms. Swift wrote, adding that “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.” 
 
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 Ms. Swift’s political views had previously been left up to interpretation, and at times her silence was viewed as support for Mr. Trump as well as the alt-right movement. The singer is beloved by some white supremacists, who claim her as an Aryan goddess, and in 2017, her lawyers fought back against a blog post that portrayed her as a white supremacist figurehead. 

 (CNN) Midterms, look what you made Taylor Swift do. 
 
 In a rare move, singer Taylor Swift has weighed in on politics in a major way, endorsing Tennessee Democrats Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper, who are running for Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. 
 
 By her own admission, Swift has been "reluctant" to voice her political opinions in the past, but, she said in an Instagram post, "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," 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." 
 
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– Taylor Swift broke her long silence on her political beliefs Sunday—and it wasn't to agree with Kanye West about President Trump. In an Instagram post, the star spoke out in support of two Democratic candidates in Tennessee, CNN reports. "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 wrote to her 112 million followers, endorsing Phil Bredesen for the Senate and incumbent Rep. Jim Cooper for the House. The voting record of Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Bredesen's GOP opponent in the Senate race, "appalls and terrifies me," Swift wrote, slamming the Republican's stance on domestic violence and gay marriage. "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 wrote. "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." The New York Times notes that Swift's political stance had long been considered a mystery, with some observers interpreting her silence as support for Trump—and some neo-Nazis hailing her as an "Aryan goddess."