Between former NFL stars running as Republicans for higher office and professional football leaders supporting GOP candidates, it appears the National Football League has been leaning to the right in recent years.
According to The Hill, Denver Broncos general manager and former quarterback John Elway has donated $7,500 to the GOP ahead of the midterm elections. While $2,500 of his donations went to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Elway sent a whopping $5,000 to Rep. Cory Gardner’s (R-Colo.) campaign for Senate.
What’s more, former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka starred in a campaign advertisement for Republican gubernatorial candidate in Illinois Bruce Rauner.
Back in 2004, Ditka nearly had his own Republican campaign for Senate in Illinois, but he decided against running for the seat that eventually went to none other than Barack Obama.
Then, there’s Rep. Jon Runyan, a Republican congressman from New Jersey who will leave Congress at the end of this year after two terms. Runyan played in the NFL for over a decade, many of his years spent with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Former Pittsburg Steelers star Lynn Swann ran as the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 2006. However, unlike Runyan, Swann did not see victory in his bid for higher office.
Is the evidence of NFL involvement in the GOP purely coincidence, or is it a trend?
Time may tell if there is a larger pattern at work, but one thing is for certain: the conclusion of Rauner’s and Gardner’s races in the midterm elections will speak to whether or not the support of NFL leaders has helped their campaigns.
