Taylor Swift’s online support for Kamala Harris’ presidential run has gained the approval of WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark.
In an Instagram post published after Tuesday’s debate between Harris and Donald Trump, the pop star girlfriend of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce announced she will be voting for the current Vice President rather than her Republican challenger.
Now Clark has ‘liked’ Swift’s post, potentially indicating that the former Iowa star will be putting her support behind Harris as well.
If that is the case, Clark’s army of conservative fans could be disappointed in her decision. The 22-year-old Rookie of the Year favorite has been championed by many Trump supporters, including Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy and podcaster Jason Whitlock.
However, Clark’s apparent preference for Harris is not a complete surprise, given that her boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, has previously penned supportive messages for the Vice President on Instagram.
But until now, Clark had not said much publicly about politics, despite becoming a regular topic in conservative media and on partisan cable news channels.
For example, Whitlock and Fox-owned Outkick Sports host podcaster Clay Travis have repeatedly claimed that Clark is the victim of anti-white, anti-Christian and anti-heterosexual biases.
Clark, however, has resisted the public debates.
When asked earlier this summer about becoming a subject in the culture wars, Clark told reporters that she focuses her attention on basketball.
‘It’s not something I can control,’ she told reporters in June. ‘I don’t put too much thought and time into thinking about things like that. To be honest, I don’t see a lot of it.
‘Like I’ve said, basketball’s my job. Everything on the outside, I can’t control that, so I’m not going to spend time thinking about that. People can talk about what they want to talk about, create conversations about whatever it is, but I think for myself,
Clark’s ‘like’ of Swift’s post follows a similarly consequential move by Brittany Mahomes, Swift’s friend and the quarterback of Chiefs quarterback Patrick.
Last month, Brittany liked a post supporting Trump’s 20-point platform, leading to days of criticism from liberals and support from conservatives.
WNBA players developed a reputation for leaning Democrat after a dispute between league stars and Kelly Loeffler, the former Atlanta Dream co-owner and Republican US Senator from Georgia.
In 2020, WNBA players lashed out at Loeffler after she criticized the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police months earlier. Floyd’s death was determined by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner to be the result of ‘cardiopulmonary arrest’ from ‘law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.’
In a letter to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Loeffler warned against allowing players to wear warmup jerseys reading ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘Say Her Name,’ instead calling on the league to mandate that an American flag be placed on all team apparel.
‘[Adhering to a] particular political agenda undermines the potential of the sport and sends a message of exclusion,’ Loeffler wrote.
‘The truth is, we need less—not more politics in sports,’ she continued. ‘In a time when polarizing politics is as divisive as ever, sports has the power to be a unifying antidote. And now more than ever, we should be united in our goal to remove politics from sports.’
Engelbert responded in a written statement: ‘The WNBA is based on the principle of equal and fair treatment of all people and we, along with the teams and players, will continue to use our platforms to vigorously advocate for social justice.’
‘E-N-O-U-G-H! O-U-T!’ the WNBA players union tweeted in July of 2020.
With the support of WNBA stars, Rev. Raphael Warnock defeated Loeffler in a Georgia senate runoff in January of 2021.
More recently, Loeffler, who has sold her stake in the Dream, has joined the chorus of conservative voices accusing the league of failing to protect Clark.
Clark is ‘physically and verbally attacked’ despite being the ‘best thing’ to happen to the WNBA.
Loeffler made the statement in June while responding to an OutKick report stating Indiana Congressman Jim Banks wrote a letter to Engelbert asking what the league plans to do to protect Clark on the court.
‘Important questions. As a WNBA team owner for a decade, I never saw this level of hostility toward one player,’ Loeffler wrote on X.
‘Caitlin Clark may be the best thing to happen to the league, ever. Ten games in, and her stats are better than half the veteran players. Viewership is up. They’re on chartered flights.
‘Instead of being welcomed, she’s physically and verbally attacked. They want the attention – but they don’t want it for a player like Caitlin Clark.’
