Former First Lady Michelle Obama has launched a voter registration drive alongside a slew of outspoken celebrity critics of President Donald Trump, actors Tom Hanks and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The national nonprofit effort, called “When We All Vote,” is co-chaired by country music superstars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, NBC all-star Chris Paul, and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Janelle Monáe.
“Voting is the only way to ensure that our values and priorities are represented in the halls of power,” Michelle Obama says in a statement, People reports. “And it’s not enough to just vote for president every four years. We all have to vote in every single election: for mayor, governor, school board, state legislature and Congress. The leaders we elect to these offices help determine just about every aspect of our lives and our democracy. So the future of our families, our communities and our country belongs to those of us who show up, cast our votes, and make our voices heard.”
Aside from the Hollywood A-listers sitting on the organization’s board, the initiative’s leadership reads like an Obama White House reunion.
Politico reports:
Valerie Jarrett as president of the board and former first lady chief of staff Tina Tchen as treasurer. Pete Rouse, an Obama senior adviser who served as interim White House chief of staff, will also be on the board. The CEO will be Kyle Lierman, a former senior policy adviser in the White House who founded Civic Advisors, a “social impact strategy” and consulting firm home to a number of Obama White House alumni.
With a reported $8 million budget, “When We All Vote” will engage in star-studded rallies and voter registration trainings scheduled for the months and weeks leading into what is expected to be a hotly contested midterm election.
There are already live websites dedicated “to celebrate a week of action” events in Boise, Idaho, and Houston, Texas, on Sept. 22.
Celebrity-fronted voter registration campaigns come a dime a dozen before major elections. In 2016, the airwaves were filled with get-out-the-vote PSAs starring Hollywood stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr., urging Americans to register to vote.
Indeed, Hamilton creator and former star Lin-Manuel Miranda — a major Hillary Clinton campaign supporter — spearheaded a Latino voter registration effort intended to stop Donald Trump from winning the election.
Other “When We All Vote” celebrity figureheads like Tom Hanks and Chris Paul haven’t been secretive about their opposition to President Trump.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson
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