With the 2020 Democratic primaries in full swing, it’s not just the presidential candidates using their platforms to campaign to unseat Donald Trump. Plenty of politically active Hollywood celebrities are making their voices heard in a bid to help their favourite presidential candidate on their way to the White House. Through fundraising, donating, and campaigning, these celebrities are on a mission to change the state of play in America. Scroll down for a roundup of who Hollywood is supporting in the 2020 presidential election.

Lizzo

The Truth Hurts singer allied herself with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren ahead of the primaries in a series of tweets, calling for people to “drop the ageism shit”. 

“I hear a lot about Bernie Sanders being ‘too old’ to run or be president,” she tweeted. “But we’ve currently got a 73-year-old in office so drop the ageism shit and just listen to what he’s going to say.”

She also showed support for Warren after a fan tweeted her: “OK but @ewarren truly is that bitch and has none of the Bernie baggage.” Lizzo replied: “Absolutely @ewarren is a dope candidate as well I’m just sayin we worried about the wrong things let’s just listen to the policies and stop talkin shit bout the shit that don’t matter ya know.”

When Lizzo was asked if her tweet was an endorsement she said: “It’s a call to action for us to focus and get unified as a party… we need to figure out how to get trump out of office and it ain’t by talkin about Bernie Sanders’ age.” 

Mandy Moore

Mandy Moore and her husband, musician Taylor Goldsmith, have firmly declared themselves to be on “Team Pete”, even joining him on the campaign trail. 

Posting to Instagram, Moore wrote: “I don’t usually get involved in politics, but @pete.buttigieg is just so darn inspiring – he’s the person America needs as president right now. If you’re with us, click the link in my bio to chip in and donate to the campaign. Every dollar counts. #teampete.”

Moore also told CNN, “I don’t think that Hollywood even knows what to do with him. He’s that much of an original right? He’s a Midwestern mayor who took office at 29 and turned around a city on the brink. He’s a navy veteran who saw firsthand the cost of endless war. But he’s also just this brilliant, plain spoken millennial who speaks half a dozen languages.”

Meanwhile, Goldsmith also showed his support for Buttigieg on Instagram. He wrote: “It’s safe to say I’ve never been around someone with such poise, such class, such regard for everyone around him at all times, and such a clear intention of living to serve others. And then there’s all the political stuff… to me, seeing someone putting the reunification of our country near the top of his priority list makes me feel a hope I had given up on ever feeling again.”

Gwyneth Paltrow

Paltrow is yet another member of Team Pete. The Goop founder and her husband, Brad Falchuk, even hosted a fundraiser for Buttigieg at their California home. Variety reports more than 100 people, including Martin Sheen and Rob Reiner, showed their support at the event.

Mark Ruffalo 

Mark Ruffalo has endorsed Bernie Sanders, saying the presidential hopeful will “make an excellent and historic president in the very moment we are ready for it and need it most”. 

Appearing in a campaign video for Sanders, The Avengers actor applauded him for tackling “key issues”, including climate change, health care and student loan debt. 

“He is the original progressive,” Ruffalo continued. “We need a leader who’s actually one of us, and Bernie is one of us and he’s always been one of us.”

Jonathan Van Ness

Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness is backing Senator Elizabeth Warren. “The moment I knew I was endorsing @ewarren was last month when I misplaced my HIV meds. It cost $3,500 to replace them out of pocket with ‘amazing’ platinum level insurance. Healthcare shouldn’t be for profit ever, it’s a human right,” he tweeted in September 2019, alluding to Warren’s Medicare-for-all plan. 

He also shared a video on Instagram showing him receiving a call from Warren after his endorsement. He captioned the video: “When the future President calls you. For my first IGTV video ever here is @elizabethwarren calling me after my endorsement today. Holy Shit.”

Megan Rapinoe

United States women’s national soccer team captain and Sportsperson of the Year Megan Rapinoe has shown her support for Elizabeth Warren in a video shared on Instagram. It shows a phone conversation between Rapinoe and Warren, with Rapinoe calling the Democratic candidate’s campaign “amazing, big and bold”.

She wrote alongside it: “I truly believe the best things in life are a result of being bold and being real. This extends to every part of my life and nothing feels more relevant and real than this election. I’m proud to endorse @elizabethwarren today, for being bold, for being real, for listening to ALL of us, and for being prepared to navigate the unique challenges we face today as a country.”

It’s perhaps unsurprising, as Rapinoe has often spoken out against Donald Trump, and even declined an invitation to the White House.

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend

One of Hollywood’s foremost power couples have relished several public run-ins with the current occupant of the White House – so it makes sense that they are going in the polar opposite direction to Donald Trump with their endorsement of a 2020 candidate.

In a wide-ranging interview with Vanity Fair, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend confirmed that they are backing Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic ticket this year.

“Elizabeth Warren [is] the best candidate running today and she comes at it with joy and with sincerity and with a wealth of knowledge and experience,” said Legend. […] “You see someone as transparently competent and eloquent and on fire as Elizabeth Warren and then you hear some guys just are not into voting for a woman. Why do guys feel so threatened by the idea of a woman president?”  

“I love Elizabeth Warren,” Teigen added.

More recently, Legend headlined three events for Warren, including in key African American communities, ahead of the South Carolina primary vote on 1 March.

“She supports creating a commission on reparations for the descendants of enslaved people,” he told a crown in Orangeburg.

Legend contrasted her with her Democratic presidential nomination rivals, including controversial former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg. “Unlike Mayor Bloomberg, she knows that housing discrimination through redlining has been a national tragedy,” Legend said. “Her housing plan created a first of its kind program to help first time home buyers living in formerly redlined areas buy a home and start building the kind of wealth that government-sponsored discrimination denied their parents and grandparents for decades.”

Cardi B

Cardi B backed Bernie Sanders when he ran against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2016, and has shown her support for the senator again this year. She has publicly supported his proposals to eliminate tuition fees for university and community colleges and to create a universal healthcare system that is free at the point of service.

Susan Sarandon

Oscar-winning actress and activist Susan Sarandon is an ardent supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and clashed with many celebrities during the 2016 election when she expressed reluctance in voting for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.

This time around, Sarandon has been on the campaign trail with Sanders in Iowa, describing the 2020 presidential race as the “make it or break it election”. So far, she’s donated $2,800 to his campaign.

Images: Getty