(The Center Square) – Amid the humor and cruelty of social media in the election post-mortems came a Swift jab from a popular North Carolina congressman to a global legendary singer-songwriter.
“Taylor Swift picked the wrong man again!” wrote U.S. Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy on social media.
The North Carolina Republican’s post didn’t quite go viral, nothing like the memes asking if President Joe Biden knew he didn’t win or the many others that floated about by crowing winners and whining losers. A day later on X, it had a mere 1,700-plus engagements.
Swifties, as her fans are famously known, know her as the No. 1 artist internationally for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Actions outside of that naturally generate greater attention, be it dating Travis Kelce of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs or on the night of a presidential debate giving an endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris over Donald Trump.
No doubt, Murphy and Swift are pretty good at what they do.
Earlier this year, Murphy stepped away from Congress to address a pituitary macroadenoma at the base of his skull, winning a fourth term on Tuesday. The North Carolina Democratic Party this year galvanized to have more candidates even in challenging districts, be it congressional or state legislative, but offered no opposition for Murphy.
Whether running in a district drawn by special masters or lawmakers, he’s never gotten less than 61.7% of the votes. The practicing urologist defeated Libertarian Gheorghe Cormos 77.5%-22.5% this week.
Murphy serves Eastern North Carolina in an area that stretches from the Outer Banks south to the Topsail Sound area inclusive of Holly Ridge. It goes inland to the areas of Lenoir, Wayne and Sampson counties as far west as Autryville, Gray’s Mill and Plain View just to the east of Dunn and Fayetteville.
He’s a member of House committees on Administration; Veterans’ Affairs; Ways and Means; and the Joint Committee on Printing. He has three subcommittee assignments – on Health for both Veterans’ Affairs and the Ways and Means, and Trade for Ways and Means.
As for Swift, arguably nobody commands an audience like her. Networks were on every move of hers, not necessarily Kelce, when she began showing up at Chiefs’ games. And mainstream media seized upon her Harris endorsement.
Pop music is her calling card today, though she began with country and has recorded folk, rock and alternatives. At 40 and likely to go higher, she’s the most-awarded artist of the American Music Awards. The 34-year-old has estimated net worth of $1.6 billion according to Forbes, richest of all female musicians.
