Taylor Swift Says “Get Out and Vote” as She Becomes Most Awarded Female Artist in History at AMAs

Taylor Swift continued to flaunt her new political persona Tuesday night at the American Music Awards, telling viewers to “get out and vote” in the midterm elections on Nov. 6, as she won her third award of the evening, making her the most decorated female artist in AMA history with 22 trophies overall.

Swift pointed out that both the fan-voted AMA trophies and the results of the midterms are “voted on by the people.”

Earlier in the evening, Swift won awards for tour of the year and favorite pop/rock album. During her first acceptance speech for tour, she thanked the artists, dancers, backup singers, band, crew and security who supported her on her Reputation stadium tour. She also thanked her fans, saying, “if you didn’t want to hang out with us, we wouldn’t have been on an amazingly fun stadium tour.”

Winning favorite pop/rock album for Reputation, Swift said while she was writing the album, which takes aim at those who betrayed her, she was “surrounded by friends and family who never loved me less based on fluctuations of public opinions.”

She added that she looks at her albums as “chapters” and while she’s happy her fans like this one, she’s “even more excited about the next chapter.”

Off-camera she also won best pop/rock female artist.

Swift on Sunday broke her longtime apolitical stance to endorse two Democratic Tennessee Congressional candidates, adding that she couldn’t endorse Republican Marsha Blackburn in the race to replace outgoing Sen. Bob Corker.

“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,” Swift wrote in a post on Instagram. “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.”

The country singer turned pop superstar also explained why she was finally speaking out about her political views, something she had previously received intense pressure to do.

“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 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 toward people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.”

In the 24 hours since her post, vote.org saw 65,000 registrations, with the number growing to 240,000 in the 48 hours since Swift spoke out.

Earlier in the evening, Billy Eichner urged audience members to register to vote in the midterms. “Don’t let people tell you your vote doesn’t count. It does. You can go to vote.gov like Taylor Swift told you to and go right now,” he said.

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