*By Christian Smith*
Taylor Swift's decision to break her political silence and urge her followers to register to vote is an incredibly valuable gift to organizations trying to get out the younger vote on Nov. 6, said DoSomething.org CEO Aria Finger.
"It does matter when young people see other people voting, other celebrities get involved," Finger said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar. "We want to make it cool for young people to get out and vote."
After the pop star posted a message to [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/BopoXpYnCes/?taken-by=taylorswift) encouraging her over 112 million followers to vote ー and effectively endorsing two Democratic candidates in Tennessee ー registering platform Vote.org said it received a surge in new registrants numbering in the thousands.
At stake in this year's midterms are all 435 U.S. House seats and 33 U.S. Senate seats.
Voter registration has been an essential goal for DoSomething.org, which has registered over 70,000 new voters this year alone.
Beyond voter registration, Finger said there has been a general boost in civic engagement from millennials and Gen Z since Donald Trump was elected president almost two years ago.
"They just want solutions," Finger said.
"Young people say, 'What can I do in my local community to make a difference because the old people, they're not helping us.'"
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-issues-uniting-millennials-going-into-the-midterms).
President Joe Biden and First lady Jill Biden are traveling to Lewiston Maine to pay their respects to the people who were killed there in a mass shooting last week.
The House approved a nearly $14.5 billion military aid package Thursday for Israel, a muscular U.S. response to the war with Hamas but also a partisan approach by new Speaker Mike Johnson that poses a direct challenge to Democrats and President Joe Biden.
The U.S. Senate, circumventing holds by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, on Thursday confirmed the nominations of two senior military leaders, including the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Using sidewalks as exam rooms and heavy red duffle bags as medical supply closets, volunteer medics spend their Saturdays caring for the growing number of migrants arriving in Chicago without a place to live.
Israeli troops advanced toward Gaza City on Thursday, as the Palestinian death toll rose above 9,000. With no end in sight after weeks of heavy fighting, U.S. and Arab mediators intensified efforts to ease Israel's siege of the Hamas-ruled enclave and called for at least a brief halt to the hostilities in order to aid civilians.
Rep. George Santos easily survived a vote Wednesday to expel him from the House as most Republicans and 31 Democrats opted to withhold punishment while both his criminal trial and a House Ethics Committee investigation proceed.
