List of American sportsperson-politicians explained

This is a list of American sportsperson-politicians.

List

Name	Sport	Background	State	Office(s)	Term	Party
	Track and field	1936 Olympic high jump medal winner	OH	State Representative	1961–1972		Republican
	Football	Played for the Tennessee Titans	TX	U.S. Representative	2019–present		Democratic
	Baseball	Played for the Hanshin Tigers	OK	State Senator	2005–2019		Democratic
	Basketball	Hall of Fame shooting guard at Syracuse University and three NBA teams, including the Detroit Pistons	MI	Mayor of Detroit	2009–2013		Democratic
	Ice hockey	Played wing for the University of North Dakota and several AHL and NHL teams	ND	Mayor of Grand Forks	2020–present		Republican
	Basketball	Hall of Fame small forward at Princeton University, 1964 Olympic gold medal team, and the New York Knicks	NJ	U.S. Senator	1979–1997	Democratic
				Candidate for President	2000
	Baseball	Outfielder for the Boston Beaneaters	NH	U.S. Attorney	1914–1922	Democratic
				Governor	1923–1925
				U.S. Senator	1933–1939
				United States Comptroller General	1939–1940
	Baseball	Hall of Fame pitcher with the Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Los Angeles Dodgers	KY	State Senator	1980–1984	Republican
				Nominee for Governor	1983
				U.S. Representative	1987–1999
				U.S. Senator	1999–2011
	Judo	Captain of the US team at the 1964 Summer Olympics	CO	State Representative	1983–1987	Democratic (before 1995) Republican (1995–present)
				U.S. Representative	1987–1993
				U.S. Senator	1993–2005
	Mixed martial arts	Fought professionally, 2013–2014	KS	U.S. Representative	2018–present		Democratic
	Basketball	Seton Hall University, 1989–93; Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Kings, and Vancouver Grizzlies, 1993–99	NJ	Councilor of Jersey City	2001–2007	Independent
				Member of the Jersey City Board of Education	2007–present
	Football	Green Bay Packers, 1927–1934	WI	U.S. Representative	1943–1945		Democratic
	Basketball	Played at Harvard University and went on to play in Australia's National Basketball League from 1987 to 1991	IL	CEO of Chicago Public Schools	2001–2009	Democratic
				U.S. Secretary of Education	2009–2016
	Football	Center, linebacker, and long snapper for University of Michigan, 1932–1935, assistant varsity football coach for Yale University, 1935–1937, junior varsity head football coach for Yale University, 1938^[1]	MI	U.S. Representative	1949–1973	Republican
				Vice President	1973–1974
				President	1974–1977
	Track and Field	1968 Olympic high jump gold medal winner	ID	Candidate for State Representative	2014	Democratic
				Commissioner of Blaine County	2019–2023
Steve Garvey	Baseball	First baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres	CA	Candidate for Senate	2024		Republican
	Football	Ohio State University, Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots	OH	U.S. Representative	2019–2023		Republican
	Professional wrestling	Independent circuit (1992–1995) and in WWE (1995–present), most notably as Kane. Also played football and basketball at Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University).	TN	Mayor of Knox County	2018–present		Republican
	Football	Guard and Defensive end for the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Colts	MA	Governor of Massachusetts	1979–1983		Democratic
	Football	All-American halfback for Auburn University, 1952–1955 and Montreal Alouettes, 1956	AL	Governor	1979–1983		Democratic
					1995–1999		Republican
Caitlyn Jenner	Decathlon	1972 Summer Olympics, 1975 Pan American Games, and 1976 Summer Olympics	CA	Candidate for Governor	2021		Republican
	Basketball	University of California, Berkeley, 1983–1987; Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns, 1987–2000	CA	Mayor of Sacramento	2008–2016		Democratic
	Baseball	Hall of Fame pitcher for the Washington Senators, 1907–27	MD	Commissioner of Montgomery County	1938	Republican
				Candidate for U.S. Representative	1940
	Running	Winner of 110m hurdles at the 1964 Summer Olympics	MI	State Representative	2006		Democratic
	Wrestling	Two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion, 1985–1986, assistant wrestling coach for Ohio State University, 1987–1995	OH	State Representative	1995–2000	Republican
				State Senator	2001–2006
				U.S. Representative	2007–present
Michelle Kwan	Figure skating	Two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002), a five-time World champion (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003) and a nine-time U.S. champion (1996, 1998–2005)	CA	U.S. Ambassador to Belize	2022–present		Democratic
	Football	Played quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, 1962–69	NY	U.S. Representative	1971–1989	Republican
				Candidate for President	1988
				U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	1989–1993
				Nominee for Vice President	1996
	Football	Hall of Fame wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks, 1976–89	OK	U.S. Representative	1995–2003	Republican
				Nominee for Governor	2002
	Running	Set a world record for the two-mile run in 1936, competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics	IN	State Representative	1973–1982		Republican
	Track and field	Decathlon winner at the Summer Olympics in 1948 and 1952	CA	U.S. Representative	1967–1975		Republican
	Basketball	Played for the University of Maryland and the Buffalo Braves, New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks, and Washington Bullets	MD	U.S. Representative	1987–1993		Democratic
	Football	Wide receiver for Florida State University, and in the NFL for the Cincinnati Bengals, 1997	FL	City Commissioner of Miramar	2011–2015	Democratic
				Mayor of Miramar	2015–present
				Candidate for President	2020
	Running	Medalist at the 1932 and 1936 Summer Olympics	IL	U.S. Representative	1971–1978		Democratic
	Football	Quarterback at the University of Oklahoma and with the Baltimore Colts and New England Patriots	OK	Lieutenant Governor	1991–1995	Democratic
				Nominee for Governor	1994
	Baseball	Pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and New York Mets, 1952–62	NC	U.S. Representative	1969–1975		Republican
	Mixed martial arts	Fought professionally, 2006–2007	OK	U.S. Representative	2013–2023	Republican
				U.S. Senator	2023–present
	Baseball	Pitcher in the Washington Senators minor league system	MA	State Representative	1977–1986		Democratic
Tito Ortiz	Mixed Martial Arts	Ultimate Fighting Championship	CA	Member of the Huntington Beach City Council	2020–2021		Republican
	Football	Head football coach for the University of Nebraska, 1973–97; University of Nebraska athletic director, 2007–2013	NE	U.S. Representative	2001–2007	Republican
				Candidate for Governor	2006
	Football	Safety for the University of Miami (1970–72), New York Jets (1973–79), and Oakland Raiders (1980–82)	UT	U.S. Representative	2021–present		Republican
	Football	Played for University of Notre Dame and the Minnesota Vikings	MN	Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court	1993–2015		Independent
B.J. Penn	Mixed martial arts	Mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner	HI	Candidate for Governor	2022		Republican
	Football	Offensive tackle for University of Michigan, and in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans (1996–99), Philadelphia Eagles (2000–08), and San Diego Chargers (2009)	NJ	U.S. Representative	2011–2015		Republican
	Football	Wide receiver and later quarterback for the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League, 1963–68	NY	Executive of Erie County	1979–1987	Republican
				Deputy Commissioner of the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation	1995–2006
	Running	The last American to hold the world record in the mile run, competitor in the 1964, 1968, and 1972 Summer Olympics, first high schooler to break the four-minute mile	KS	U.S. Representative	1996–2007		Republican
	Football	Linebacker for Purdue University, and in the NFL for the Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, and San Francisco 49ers	IL	Mayor of Palatine	2009–present		Independent
	Bodybuilding	Mr. Olympia from 1970 to 1973	CA	Governor	2003–2011		Republican
	Baseball	Catcher for the Penn Quakers and New York Yankees	NY	Clerk of Erie County	1934–1938	Democratic
				U.S. Representative	1939–1941
	Football	Played for the University of Tennessee and the New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders	NC	U.S. Representative	2007–2013		Democratic
	Baseball	Played for the Orioles in 1885, Chicago White Stockings from 1888 to 1889, and the Pittsburgh Burghers for the 1890 season.	PA	U.S. Representative	1909–1911	Republican
				Governor	1911–1915
Jim Thomas	Tennis	Highest ATP world singles ranking was number 288	OH	State Representative	2023–present		Republican
	Football	Played for Southern Arkansas University; assistant coach at Arkansas State University, the University of Miami, and Texas A&M University; head coach at the University of Mississippi, Auburn University, Texas Tech University, and the University of Cincinnati	AL	U.S. Senator	2021–present		Republican
	Basketball	Played for the University of Arizona, and later with the Denver Nuggets for one year	AZ	U.S. Representative	1961–1991		Democratic
	Professional wrestling	American Wrestling Association and World Wrestling Federation	MN	Mayor of Brooklyn Park	1991–1995	Independence
				Governor	1999–2003
	Football	National Football League	GA	Candidate for U.S. Senator	2021-22		Republican
	Football	Played for University of Oklahoma and the Ottawa Rough Riders	OK	U.S. Representative	1995–2003		Republican
	Football	Played for NFL teams Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers during 1938 and 1941	CO	U.S. Deputy Attorney General	1961–1962	Democratic
				Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court	1962–1993
	Baseball	World Series champion who played for the Kansas City Royals for 18 years.	MO	Member of the Jackson County Legislature	2014–2016	Democratic
				Executive of Jackson County	2016–present
	Football	Cornerback with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1979–1990)	PA	Judge of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas	2005–present		Independent

See also

• List of sportsperson-politicians (international list)

Notes and References

1. Web site: At Yale, Ford doubled as coach, law student. 17 January 2007.