Former NBC Sunday Night Football sideline reporter and ESPN broadcaster Michele Tafoya has filed paperwork and officially launched her Republican campaign for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota.
It marks a striking pivot from the football sidelines to the political arena.
The longtime sports broadcaster, who retired from NBC in 2022 after more than a decade covering high-stakes NFL games, is now seeking to fill the open seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith.
“For years, I covered the biggest football games in America,” Tafoya said in a video posted on social media this morning. “I walked the sidelines when the pressure was mounting, and the stakes were the highest.”
“That job taught me about more than football. It taught me about how leadership really works. When leaders are prepared and accountable, teams succeed. When they aren’t, people pay the price.”
For years, I walked the sidelines when the stakes were the highest, and that job taught me how leadership really works.
— Michele Tafoya (@Michele_Tafoya) January 21, 2026
I’m running for U.S. Senate to bring that experience to Washington and deliver the real results Minnesota deserves. pic.twitter.com/vDbHWpAXg9
Michele Tafoya Senate Run in Minnesota: From NFL Sidelines to Political Frontlines
Tafoya, a familiar voice in Minnesota sports radio earlier in her career and more recently active in conservative commentary and Republican politics—including co-chairing a gubernatorial campaign—announced her bid on Wednesday. She is a frequent guest on Fox News’s show Gutfeld!.
Wait until you see the Democrats she could be going up against. I mean, just the absolute cream of the woke crop.
Democrat Rep. Angie Craig (MN-2). Craig is running to be “the first lesbian mom ever elected” to the United States Senate. Because that’s what’s important. Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, meanwhile, has boasted to anyone that will listen how she is “the first Native American woman to chair a national party committee in history,” telling voters that her name means “speaks in a loud and clear voice woman” in Ojibwe.
She recently made headlines by wearing a hijab while vociferously defending Somalis in her state currently embroiled in a massive multi-billion-dollar fraud scandal.
Lt Gov Peggy Flanagan @LtGovFlanagan prostrates herself in a headscarf for the Somalis.
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) December 26, 2025
This is a sickness. pic.twitter.com/BVRMnI05C6
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In a sane world, people like that wouldn’t even be running for local dog catcher, let alone for Senate. But we no longer live in a sane world. Especially in Minnesota, where the Vikings have male cheerleaders on their squads.
🔥🚨DEVELOPING: NFL Minnesota Vikings male cheerleaders responded to their backlash from football fans after uploading this video. pic.twitter.com/llHsFfGpR4
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) August 24, 2025
Michele Tafoya’s entry adds a celebrity profile to what promises to be a competitive race in a state where Republicans have not won a Senate seat in over two decades.
Also in the sports-meets-politics world, former New York Yankees star and World Series champion Mark Teixeira announced his bid for Congress in Texas.
Teixeira announced his candidacy for Texas’s 21st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives in August.
Describing himself as a lifelong conservative and proud Texan, Teixeira said he aims to defend President Trump’s agenda and protect Texas families. So, his defense of ICE is on brand.
“As a proud Texan and lifelong conservative who loves our country, I’m ready to fight for the principles that make Texas strong and America exceptional,” a statement read. “It takes teamwork to win, and I’m ready to help defend President Trump’s America First agenda, Texas families, and individual liberty.”
America first. Illegals last, for Teixeira. Tafoya leans the same way.