Move Over Travis Kelce: Gavin Newsom Has His Eye On Taylor Swift

Governor Gavin Newsom is no dummy.

The California progressive knows he can't run on his record. Nor can his fellow Democrats. Have you read the news today? Oh, boy.

So Newsom is trying to pretend he didn't shut down the Golden State during the pandemic and that California is a freer state than, say, Florida.

Really.

The governor, who appears eager to replace President Joe Biden as the Democrats' 2024 presidential nominee should the "need" arise, isn't hedging his bets on his party keeping the White House blue.

He's debating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Nov. 30, but before then he's applying not so subtle pressure on the biggest pop star in the galaxy.

Taylor Swift.

Gavin Newsom shared with TMZ why a certain pop star may hold the key to the 2024 election cycle.

Yes, he's taking about Tay Tay.

“Taylor Swift stands tall and unique ... what she was able to accomplish in getting young people activated to consider that they have a voice and they should have a voice in the next election, I think it’s profoundly powerful.”

The governor's timing, to his credit, is perfect.

Gavin Newsom Is A Swiftie

Swift recently implored her "Swifties" - AKA hardcore fans - to register to vote. She kept the message apolitical, using her considerable star power to nudge apathetic citizens to prep for a big election year.

And boy, did they respond. People magazine reports more than 35,000 first-time potential voters did exactly what Swift suggested.

It's also not the first time the Swift's call-to-action worked like a charm.

Why is Newsom's messaging important? And why leverage Swift's name and brand? It didn't happen in vacuum. Young people tend to vote Democrat, for starters. That matters.

Swift's political history is equally significant.

The pop superstar once steered clear of politics. Sure, she might share a "I Voted" sticker on social media, but she neither picked political sides or told her fans to follow her ideological lead.

And that made the media and the Left, but we repeat ourselves, furious. Reporters filed hit pieces on the pop songstress, demanding she pick a side in the Trump/Clinton campaign of 2016 and beyond.

Swift’s relative silence on politics may have worked for the majority of her career so far. But by the time the 1989 era came to a close, a lot of Swift’s standby strategies had already proven themselves outdated. And as a sizable portion of the US entered panic mode politically, the perceived stakes of anyone's silence seemed to grow exponentially.

Taylor Swift's Transformation

NPR tried to tie Swift to White Nationalists, even using a picture of the star with bleached blonde hair with the accompanying article which claimed she wasn't at fault for the connection. Then why mention it in the first place?

Swift's crime? Some lunatic racists adore her.

The Daily Beast demanded Swift denounce her White supremacist fans, as if it were her duty to scour her massive fan base and attack anyone who didn't hold solid values.

The bullying intensified until, in 2018, Swift cried "uncle." She embraced the Democratic Party, attached specific Republican candidates and even made a movie out of her political "evolution."

A funny thing happened earlier this year, the biggest of her already iconic career. She dropped politics from her celebrity platform.

Swift's ERAS tour rocked the culture. It'll soon do the same to your local cineplex. Her upcoming concert film is predicted to crash the $100 million mark on its opening weekend alone.

Taylor Swift performs onstage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at SoFi Stadium. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

Yet Swift let all that stage time fly by without getting on a soapbox. She just sang the hits to a nation hungry for an apolitical distraction, with a quick jab at the end of Roe v. Wade decision.

Can Swift stay neutral for much longer? Will the 2024 election force her hand, compelling her to suggest President Joe Biden has the mental fitness to continue as our Commander in Chief?

Will more major Democrats gently, or not so gently suggest she can't stay on the sidelines like she did earlier in her career? And how much will the press push that argument?

Here's betting "Miss Americana" will rise up, again, and promote Democrats early and often from her social media perches.