Grammy-nominated rap star Nicki Minaj told young Americans their voices are “very necessary” and urged them to “vote red now” in the 2026 midterms and local races, a blunt call that breaks with Hollywood’s usual script.
Minaj appeared on My View with Lara Trump and delivered a direct message to younger voters: show up, vote, and choose Republican. Breitbart News reported her appeal covered not only the next presidential cycle’s midterms but every local contest that shapes daily life.
The New York native and “Super Bass” star framed voting as the only real way to keep a say in what happens next, in the country and beyond.
She did not soften the pitch. Minaj told the audience that sitting out is a mistake and that younger Americans will live with the results of today’s ballots.
She said:
“Now is not the time to think that your voice will not be heard. Your voice will not only be heard, but your voice is very necessary right now for the country and for the world. We need you guys involved,”
She pressed the point again, tying today’s choices to tomorrow’s costs.
Minaj said:
“We need you guys involved more than ever before. This is your country, this is your world. You are the ones that have to reap the benefits of whatever vote decisions we make now.”
Then she widened the ask past the White House. Local races matter too, she said, school boards, city halls, state offices, the places where policy hits home first.
Minaj said:
“Think about how much you want a say in what happens and realize that the only way to have that is by voting, not just voting for the president, but just voting in all of the local elections,”
Her closer was plain:
“Please, and vote red now.”
She also pointed young voters toward the polls on November 3rd, underscoring turnout as the test that counts.
The Lara Trump appearance fits a longer stretch of public moves from Minaj that put her at odds with the entertainment industry’s default politics.
Last November, she publicly praised President Donald Trump. She thanked him for stepping in over the plight of Christians in Nigeria and thanked the administration for using one of her songs in a TikTok video.
She has also gone after California Gov. Gavin Newsom over his policies on transgender issues involving children. Minaj’s message to Newsom was short and final: “It’s the end of the road for you.”
In December, she fired up a packed crowd at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest and praised the group as “a direct link between young people and God.”
Last month she endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) for Florida governor and urged her fans, the Barbz, to get behind him.
Minaj is not a cable-news regular. She is a chart-dominating rapper whose audience skews young and online. That is exactly why her “vote red” line lands with force.
Entertainment culture still treats Republican votes as a brand risk. Donors, award shows, and studio politics reward the other direction. When a star of her size tells young fans to vote Republican, and to do it in local races, not just once every four years, it punches a hole in that wall.
Her argument was not abstract. She tied voice to consequence: if you want a say, you vote; if you skip it, you still live with the result. She named the party. She named the date. She named the full ballot, not only the top of the ticket.
Lara Trump’s show gave her the platform. Turning Point’s stage gave her a conservative youth crowd. The Donalds endorsement put her name on a live state race. The Newsom shot drew a bright line on parental and child-safeguard fights that animate a large share of center-right voters.
None of that reads like a one-off sound bite. It reads like a public alignment, imperfect, celebrity-shaped, and still rare in her industry.
Young voters are told endlessly that their energy belongs to one side. Minaj told them the opposite: register the preference, cast the ballot, and do it in red. That kind of clarity is scarce in pop culture. It should not be.
