Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe has reportedly turned to fans of Taylor Swift in an attempt to garner support as the race for governor of Virginia heats up.
As reported by The Verge, McAuliffe’s campaign has started an ad series on Facebook, Instagram, and Google search in order to reveal the role of Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin in the contentious debacle of singer Taylor Swift’s master recordings sale several years ago.
The outlet reported that last year, Youngkin “retired as co-CEO of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group before launching his 2021 gubernatorial bid. At Carlyle, Youngkin worked with the media executive Scooter Braun to acquire Big Machine Label Group, taking control of all of Swift’s master recordings and, for a time, refusing to sell them back to the singer.
“Several months later, Swift called on Carlyle to intervene in the deal, saying that the acquisition made it more difficult for her to perform her own music and produce her Netflix documentary named after her record Reputation.”
Swift wrote a Tumblr blog post after the announcement that the label had been sold.
As reported by Rolling Stone:
“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in,” Swift began her post. From there, she details how she knew Borchetta would eventually sell the label but claims she had no knowledge — and no expectation — that it would be to Braun.
Swift has since begun re-recording her old albums in an effort to pull attention away from the original recordings, and effectively secure creative and financial control of her old songs, per NPR.
McAuliffe’s campaign invested five figures in the purchase of the advertisements which will be directed toward people who are fans of Swift and take part in her content on Instagram and Facebook. “They will also place ads in Google search results for Virginians that search for her name,” The Verge added.
The advertisements reportedly have pictures of Swift and Youngkin along with the hashtag #WeStandWithTaylor, a tag utilized by her fans to demonstrate support during the controversy with Braun.
The race for governor of Virginia has gotten close over the past several weeks as voters start deciding who they will elect to lead their state. The race is seen by some Democrats as an indicator of how the 2022 midterm elections will play out.
Virginia has historically gone back and forth between Republican and Democratic governors, but as President Joe Biden’s approval rating drops across the country, the election will be watched closely to see if his decline in approval has an effect on other races.
Recent polling by 538 revealed that Youngkin is at 44.4% with McAuliffe at 47.4% in Virginia.
As reported by The Daily Wire, McAuliffe was recently criticized after he said in a gubernatorial debate that parents shouldn’t have a role in what their kids are being taught in public schools.
“At one point during the debate, the candidates were asked out whether protections for transgender students should be determined at the state or local level. McAuliffe responded to a recent incident where a parent complained that two books available to high school students contained graphic sexual content and pedophilia. The school district removed the books and is currently reviewing them,” The Daily Wire reported.
“I’m not gonna let parents come into schools and actually take books off and make their own decisions,” McAuliffe said. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
“I get really tired of everybody running down teachers. I love our teachers and what they’ve done through covid, these are real heroes who deserve our respect,” he added.