Former New York Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira, one of several sports figures running for political office this year, won a landslide victory in a Republican primary in Texas on Tuesday in his campaign for a U.S. House of Representatives seat.
Teixeira took more than 61 percent of the vote in Texas’ 21st Congressional district to win the 12-candidate field. The former first baseman will now run as the Republican nominee to replace outgoing Rep. Chip Roy, who is headed into a runoff to become the GOP nominee for Texas attorney general.
“This is a huge victory, and I’m truly honored to have such strong support from the people of TX-21. Thank you!” Teixeira said in a post on X. “I’m so grateful to everyone who voted, put in the work, donated, and especially prayed for us along the way.”
Teixeira spent 14 seasons in MLB, playing for the Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels before joining the Yankees in 2009. A three-time All-Star, he won five Golden Gloves and three Silver Slugger awards during his career, and he won a World Series in his first year with New York. He led the American League in home runs and RBI that season.
After retiring from baseball, Teixeira became a broadcaster for ESPN from 2017 to 2022. Trump has endorsed his House campaign.
Former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely and former broadcaster Michele Tafoya are also aiming to get elected.
Feely said in April 2025 that he would run to represent Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, but said in December that he would instead run for the state’s 1st Congressional District after President Donald Trump endorsed his opponent, Mark Lamb. At the time, Trump said he liked Feely “very much, and would like to see him run in a different district, or for a different office.”
Feely played 13 seasons in the NFL with six teams before becoming a commentator, reporter and analyst for CBS Sports until 2025. The placekicker won a national championship with Michigan in 1997 before a two-year stint in the Arena Football League and a 2001 NFL debut with the Atlanta Falcons. His longest run with a team was with the Arizona Cardinals from 2010 to 2013. Feely finished his professional career with the Chicago Bears the following season.
Feely has said the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pa., inspired him to run for office, and that he wants to stand up for conservative sports media figures who he feels are vilified for their beliefs.
The Arizona primary is set for July 21, and Feely is one of eight Republicans vying for the nomination. If eventually elected, Feely would replace 15-year conservative Rep. David Schweikert, who is running for governor.
Tafoya, a former NFL reporter for ABC, NBC, CBS and ESPN who later became a political pundit, is running in the Republican primary race for Minnesota’s open U.S. Senate seat. She announced her candidacy in January and drew national attention this week when she said that “almost 30 percent of Californians are homeless on any given night” during an appearance on Fox News. California’s true homeless rate is about 0.47 percent, according to data from the National Alliance to End Homelessness. However, the state does account for nearly a third of the nation’s total homeless population.
The primary for the Minnesota Senate race is Aug. 1. Tafoya faces nine opponents for the GOP nomination, including former Sacramento Kings player Royce White. Republicans are hoping to flip a seat held by Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, who is not running for re-election.
Michele Tafoya’s final game as an NFL sideline reporter was for NBC at Super Bowl LVI in 2022. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
Trump has supported numerous campaigns by sports figures since becoming president. He campaigned hard for Heisman Trophy-winning running back Herschel Walker in his failed 2022 bid for a Senate seat in Georgia, and also backed former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, who won his 2020 Senate campaign in Alabama. Tuberville is now running for governor.
Former NBA center Chris Dudley is also running for governor in Oregon as a Republican. He previously sought the position in 2010 and won the GOP nomination, but lost in a close general election. Dudley played for six NBA teams from 1987 to 2003, starting with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has somewhat distanced himself from the president, telling the Oregon Journalism Project in November, “If we spend the next election just talking about Donald Trump, that’s a disservice to Oregon.”
That sharply differs from the approach being taken in Georgia by former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley. Dooley has courted Trump throughout his run in a competitive Republican Senate primary where he faces nine opponents.
However, Dooley’s pursuit of the president’s endorsement may have hit a snag in late February after audio emerged of him admitting Trump lost Georgia in the 2020 presidential election. Trump continues to baselessly contest that fact. Dooley’s primary is on June 16.
Rounding out the current slate of athletes-turned-candidates is Colin Allred, a three-term congressman who spent four years as a linebacker for the Tennessee Titans. A Democrat, Allred gave up his spot representing Texas’ 32nd Congressional District in the House to run for Senate in 2024. He lost to Republican incumbent Ted Cruz and is now leading a May 26 runoff race to represent the state’s 33rd District.
Several of these races involve states and districts that have recently undergone redistricting, including the one Allred is running in this cycle. Texas and Georgia have faced criticism that their current political maps discriminate against non-white voters.
Tafoya’s campaign in Minnesota has been impacted by ongoing protests over the Trump administration’s deportation tactics, including the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents; Tafoya referenced the immigration unrest in her campaign announcement. Teixeira and Feely are also running on platforms calling for strict immigration enforcement. Along with Tafoya and Dooley, they have all opposed the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Dudley has not made transgender athletes a major issue of his campaign, but has spoken out against the growth of legal sports gambling, saying he “hates” prop bets.
“I get that it’s such a huge part of NBA revenues. But I don’t like where it can take people,” he told the Oregon Journalism Project. “With FanDuel, you do fantasy teams, then you’re bombarded with offers. I’ve got three kids and seen the way it works.”