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“I see my role as just telling people to register to vote. Telling people to do their research and make the best decision for themselves and their family.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said Wednesday that he doesn’t endorse either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, but the former president continued to call Mahomes’ wife, Brittany, an advocate for his campaign.
“I don’t want my position or my platform to be used anyway to endorse any candidate or anything like that,” Mahomes said before heading to practice for Sunday’s game against Cincinnati. “I feel like my role is to let people know to register to vote. To let people know to do their research and make the decision that’s best for them and their family.”
The three-time Super Bowl champion’s comments came just one day after Taylor Swift, who is dating Chiefs teammate Travis Kelce and is friends with the Mahomes family, endorsed Harris for president.
Following Swift’s endorsement, Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News on Wednesday, “The truth is, I like Mrs. Mahomes a lot more. She’s a big Trump fan. I like Brittany. I think Brittany is great.”
Trump began speaking out about Republican presidential candidate Brittany Mahomes last month after he “liked” and then “disliked” an Instagram post by Mahomes outlining the “2024 Republican Platform.” Shortly after, Trump posted to Truth Social, “I want to thank the beautiful Brittany Mahomes for her strong defense of me.”
Brittany Mahomes has since avoided the political spotlight except to respond to criticism on social media, where she wrote in a post that “if you feel hate as an adult, you must have deep-seated issues from childhood that you refuse to heal.”
Patrick Mahomes avoided specific questions about President Trump’s comments about his wife on Wednesday, saying, “At the end of the day, it’s about me and my family and how we treat other people.”
“You know Brittany does a lot in the community, I do a lot in the community too, to lift people up and give them a voice,” he said. “In political times, people are going to take advantage of things here and there, but I try not to let that affect how I go about my day to day work in my life and just try to do it to the best of my ability.”
Swift began dating Kelsey last year and has grown close with the Mahomes family, often sharing the same suite during games at Arrowhead Stadium. Some suspected a rift between them when they weren’t seen together at the Chiefs’ season-opening win over the Ravens last week, but they showed up together to watch the U.S. Open in New York last weekend.
“When I’m hanging out with somebody, I don’t think about their political views or anything,” Patrick Mahomes said. “I think about them and how they treat other people. I’ve been around a lot of great people this week.”
Swift endorsed Harris shortly after the presidential debate ended on Tuesday night, a potential big win for the Democratic candidate given Swift’s fervent support among young women, a key demographic in the November election. The endorsement also came after the Trump campaign released a collage of AI-generated images that purportedly show Swift’s fans supporting Trump.
“I think she is a poised and talented leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if led with calm instead of chaos,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post that had been liked more than 9 million times by Wednesday afternoon.
Trump’s post “leads me to the conclusion that as a voter I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election,” Swift wrote. She added, “I have done my research and I have made my choice.”
Mahomes avoided getting specific about his political beliefs, instead speaking broadly about national unity.
“You’ve seen my background. I’ve met people from all aspects of life, all backgrounds,” the Chiefs quarterback said. “The best thing about a football locker room, and I grew up in a baseball locker room, is people can come together to accomplish something and achieve a common goal. I talked about that a little while ago. If we can do that as a country, we can bring out the best in each other. So I live that every day.”
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