5 athletes and sports figures to watch on Election Day

This week’s midterm elections feature a handful of races involving former athletes, coaches or sports media personalities who are hoping to secure victory at the ballot box and bring their experience on or around the field of play to a role in government.

Tuesday’s elections come at the end of a midterm cycle in which President Trump and the GOP especially have leaned heavily into support from athletes on the campaign trail, seeking to use sports fandom as a means of connecting with voters.

Here are five former sports figures hoping to notch a win this week and how they are expected to fare on Tuesday.

Teixeira, a former MLB slugger who won a World Series with the New York Yankees in 2009 and led the American League in home runs that year, is running for a U.S. House seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).

Texas’s 21st District, which comprises a largely rural area between San Antonio and Austin, is heavily Republican, and Teixeira is currently polling well ahead of Democratic challenger Kristin Hook.

The Republican has embraced Trump on the campaign trail and has spent time trying to boost other GOP hopefuls in the state, including state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is in a tough Senate race with Democratic nominee James Talarico.

The party’s national leadership has called on Teixeira on a number of occasions to stump for other Republicans running for office across the country and help promote the president’s agenda as they look to defend their House and Senate majorities.

On Capitol Hill, GOP organizers of the annual congressional baseball game have expressed excitement that the team’s dominant run over Democrats on the diamond could get a major boost once Teixeira joins the team’s ranks next year, as is expected.

Tafoya is a longtime ESPN NFL sideline reporter-turned-Fox News commentator who is running as a Republican for U.S. Senate in Minnesota.

Tafoya is an underdog in the race and is facing a much harder election fight than Teixeira, with one recent polling average from Decision Desk HQ finding Democrat Peggy Flanagan leading with 47.4 percent support to Tafoya’s 43.8 percent.

Minnesota has not elected a Republican to the Senate in nearly 25 years, and Tafoya’s effort to make the state competitive for the GOP comes at a time when the GOP is facing a tough political climate.

Some political forecasters predict the former sports reporter’s embrace of Trump could ultimately hurt her in a state where a trade war with Canada and broader concerns about affordability are top of mind for many voters.

Feely spent years as an NFL kicker before joining the CBS Sports broadcast booth.

A Republican who speaks often about his faith, Feely is running in Arizona’s 1st House District against physician Amish Shah, who was once a team doctor for the New York Jets when Feely was on the team.

The Feely vs. Shah race has been in a dead heat for weeks, and some recent polls give the Democrat a slight edge in the contest to succeed Rep. Andy Biggs (R).

Feely told The Hill earlier this year the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pa., inspired him to run for Congress, something he had been considering for years.

“That was a big moment for me,” he said. “I started asking myself, ‘All right, Jay. … What are you willing to sacrifice?’ It’s my time to go and serve.”

Turek is a Democrat and former Paralympic and professional basketball player who is running for Senate in Iowa against GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson.

A former European pro wheelchair basketball player, Turek has attacked Hinson over what he says is her growing wealth while serving in Congress, while she has pointed out his inconsistent attendance and voting record in the Iowa state House.

Hinson has been endorsed by Trump, while Turek in August rolled out a campaign ad that featured him and former President Obama shooting hoops. In the ad, the former president says: “I’ve seen enough. What we’ve got here is a man of character, someone who knows how to win. Now the ball’s in your court, Iowa.”

Tuberville, a U.S. senator and former NCAA football coach of the year at Auburn University, is giving up his seat to run for governor of Alabama.

He leads Democrat Doug Jones in polls by a wide margin in a state that has been a reliable stronghold for Republicans for decades.

Tuberville, who was a vocal supporter of Congress’s effort to regulate college sports this fall, beat back a residency challenge this summer that claimed he had not lived in Alabama long enough to run for the governor’s mansion.

While Trump’s decision to hold rallies in Alabama and nearby Mississippi have some Democrats hopeful the GOP could be losing support in the Deep South, Tuberville is expected to cruise to victory and win statewide office again Tuesday.

A federal judge late last week opened a misconduct probe into Trump’s Department of Justice, accusing government attorneys of lying to her as the department defends Trump’s desire to redevelop East Potomac Golf Links in court. The president has said the course will close on Nov. 15 despite an order from U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes barring future work at the property while the case is being litigated. The National Links Trust a day earlier confirmed it would cede operational control of East Potomac on Nov. 15, while Reyes has threatened to hold contempt hearings if the federal government defies her order. The judge said she would conduct the investigation herself or appoint a special master to do so.

Officials at the NCAA and major university athletic departments will be closely watching Tuesday’s midterm election results, as a shift in the congressional majorities could have major implications for the Protect College Sports Act, which was passed by the Senate before the recess. If Democrats win control of the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is expected to be elected Speaker. Jeffries has been adamant in his opposition to the NCAA’s efforts to get Congress to regulate the big business of college sports, and he vowed to lead efforts to stop it. The NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus and other groups on Capitol Hill argue the bill would disproportionately limit the earning potential of minority student-athletes.

The Golden State Valkyries secured their first WNBA title over the weekend, beating the Atlanta Dream in seven games to cap what many view as the league’s most successful season since its launch. This year’s WNBA finals, however, came under significant criticism, particularly when an elimination Game 6 was played in the daytime.

Jocks on The Hill: Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.)

Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.), whose family presides over panhandle seafood chain Captain Anderson’s, answered some sports questions for The Hill.

“It’s always been college football, and playing I had zero hand-eye coordination. My kids play sports, but I’m definitely a fan who enjoys watching the raw talent of amateur sports.”

“Florida State University. No questions asked. I can say things about different programs I admire. I appreciate the way Dabo Swinney conducts himself. I think there are generations of coaches that are not going to be part of the sport moving forward because the game has moved on.”

Is there an athlete you admired growing up?

“I think Josh Allen. I get emotional talking about him. I could say the same thing about Jameis Winston. You see this guy … I love when a player just pours themselves into the game and leave it all on the field to the point where a loss effects them emotionally. For my 50th birthday my sons got me a Josh Allen jersey. You see those once-in-an-era players that just inspire their teammates.”

Hate is a strong word, but is there a team you love to root against?

“I think it’s a flip of the coin between the University of Miami and the University of Florida. But you know I can’t hate … it is a strong word, but you know what, when they play against Florida State, I’m going to root against them. But when they play anybody else, I’m going to root for the Florida team.”

Sports and politics are full of cliches; is there one that resonates with you?

“You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. We see it in the administration and the athletic department and the boosters … they got to remember it’s a different day now. A player will leave your program and go to another one for $50,000. We see the same thing in Washington all the time, and you’ve got to work through this developing moving target on fixing college sports, and we think Congress is going to be the solution, which I think is pretty comical myself.”

There has been a lot of buzz about bad blood in the “Monday Night Football” broadcast booth in recent weeks, and The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand takes a deep dive here into the “unraveling” of one of the league’s longest serving play-by-play and color commentary duos in Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.

ESPN put together a fun list that’s worth checking out, ranking the “top 10 trick plays in Super Bowl history,” which includes the famous “Philly Special” and Phil Simms’s flea-flicker to Phil McConkey in 1987.

Front Office Sports published an analysis of Federal Election Commission data that showed owners across U.S. pro sports leagues have spent more than $100 million on the midterms — mostly for Republicans.