Marsha Blackburn shakes off Taylor Swift’s intervention to win in Tennessee

The so-called Taylor Swift effect failed to flip Tennessee as the Democrats’ candidate for the Senate lost to Republican Marsha Blackburn.

Swift had broken her long-held silence on political matters to announce she would be voting for Phil Bredesen in her home state in the US midterm elections.

The popstar said Blackburn’s voting record on issues such as LGBT rights “appals and terrifies me”, adding she would like to support women in office but “I cannot support” Blackburn.

Following Swift’s intervention in October, voter registrations spiked. But it failed to stop staunch conservative Blackburn taking the Senate seat after she beat Bredesen on Tuesday.

Blackburn is the first female to represent the state in the Senate.

The result should not come as a surprise as Tennessee, in the US South, is considered a safe Republican state.

In presidential elections it has voted with the Republicans since 2000 and in 2016 60% of voters opted for Donald Trump.

As she announced her voting intentions in October, Swift said: “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.

“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.”

As the result from Tennessee became clear, Laura Ingraham, a conservative host of Fox News, tweeted: “Hey @taylorswift13, haters gonna hate. #shakeitoff.”