Pro Sports Owners Back GOP in Senate Battleground Races

This is part of a Front Office Sports series about sports spending in the 2026 midterm elections.

Several key battleground races will decide control of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

The Republican candidates in those elections have benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from major U.S. sports team owners, according to an FOS analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.

Sports owners in the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and NWSL donated more than $350,000 to principal campaign committees for Republican Senate candidates in battleground states. Team owners in those leagues spent less than a fifth of that amount supporting Democrats in those same races. Political action committees affiliated with the Republican candidates also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from sports owners.

Across the board, sports owners overwhelmingly gave to Republican Senate candidates over Democrats. The principal campaign committees for Susan Collins in Maine, Jon Husted in Ohio, and Mike Rogers in Michigan received the largest total donations from team owners. Roy Cooper in North Carolina and James Talarico in Texas were the only two Democrats to receive more donations to their principal campaign committees from sports owners than their opponents—though Texas Republican nominee Ken Paxton received sizable donations to outside PACs from the sports world.

Some of the most prolific donors for these races among team owners were Los Angeles Kings and Galaxy owner Philip Anschutz, Broncos owner Rob Walton, Cleveland Browns and Columbus soccer owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, Magic owners Richard “Dick” and Dan DeVos, and San Francisco Giants owner Charles B. Johnson. 

New York Giants chairman Steve Tisch, Seattle Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla, Minnesota Twins owner Jim Pohlad, and Chicago Stars owner Laura Ricketts all donated to support Democratic candidates in battleground states.

Other sports figures—including Northwestern University donor Pat Ryan, Secretary of Education and former WWE president and CEO Linda McMahon, and Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell—donated to Republicans in several key races.

These data points include donations given directly to a candidate’s campaign committee, as well as transfers that originated from other groups but were directed to the candidate.

For example, Giants owner Johnson donated $500,000 to Grow the Majority, a Republican joint fundraising committee focused on electing House candidates. That money was split up into at least 13 campaigns, in addition to other PACs and committees. Joint fundraising committees are required to include their allocation formula in solicitations for money, but donors can designate their contributions to go to specific candidates of their choosing.

Here’s how U.S. team owners and other influential sports figures donated in nine key Senate battleground races.

Ohio

More than a dozen sports owners donated to reelect Republican Jon Husted.

The incumbent got the support of many Ohio team owners, including Cleveland Cavaliers and Sirens owner Dan Gilbert and Reds owner Robert Castellini, who also gave $50,000 to the Husted-aligned Ohio Flyer PAC. Walton, Dick and Dan DeVos, and Athletics and Earthquakes owner John Fisher are among the out-of-state team owners who donated to Husted’s campaign. U.S. Soccer patron and hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin also chipped in $3,500.

The Haslams gave close to $550,000 to two joint fundraising committees tied to the candidate, Husted Victory and Team Husted. Those groups also received a combined $125,000 from FC Cincinnati owner Carl Lindner III. Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown and Nashville Predators owner Bill Haslam also contributed to Husted’s joint fundraising committees.

A smaller number of team owners gave to Democratic challenger and former Senator Sherrod Brown.

Khosla and Tisch each gave $7,000 through joint fundraising committees, while Indiana Pacers and Fever owner Herb Simon gave $2,500 directly to the campaign committee. San Francisco 49ers owners John York and Denise DeBartolo York also donated to Brown in October. John and Denise, who are 77 and 76, respectively, are longtime power players in Ohio Democratic politics, and their son, principal Niners owner Jed York, recently served a six-game suspension from the NFL after being arrested in an undercover prostitution sting.

Michigan

In a race where the headlines have been dominated by Democratic infighting over Israel, sports owners have overwhelmingly backed Republican Mike Rogers, who is trying to recapture the seat for the GOP with Democratic Sen. Gary Peters retiring. Rogers faces Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who narrowly came through a Democratic primary against Rep. Haley Stevens. 

At least 10 owners of major American sports teams donated to Rogers, including a $100,000 gift from Patriots owner Robert Kraft to a PAC running advertisements on Rogers’s behalf. El-Sayed received little support from owners, but did get a $1,250 donation from Padres pitcher Lucas Giolito.

Read more about how sports figures contributed to Michigan’s Senate race.

Texas

Like many other Republicans, sports owners have largely held Ken Paxton’s campaign at arm’s length, with a handful of exceptions. 

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Texas Rangers owner Ray Davis donated $50,000 and $25,000, respectively, to Paxton-affiliated Lone Star Liberty PAC. Jones gave $3,500 directly to Paxton’s campaign committee through his $250,000 donation to Paxton Victory, a joint fundraising committee that also received $100,000 from his son, Jerry Jones Jr.

A wider swath of owners donated to incumbent John Cornyn, who lost to the Donald Trump–endorsed Paxton in the primary, including Walton, Heat owner Micky Arison, and Giants owner Johnson. Some poured thousands into his affiliated joint fundraising committees, including the Haslams, Buccaneers owner Edward Glazer, and Jerry Jones’s son, Jerry Jones, Jr. A few owners also gave to the pro-Cornyn PAC Texans For A Conservative Majority, most prominently Walton, who donated $500,000.

Democrat Talarico received around $5,000 in donations from sports owners, the largest backers being Minnesota Twins owner Pohlad and Chicago Stars owner Ricketts. Pohlad and Stars minority owner Jennifer Pritzker also donated to the Texas Democratic Party.

The Talarico campaign cashed checks from three notable NBA figures. New York Knicks guard Landry Shamet gave $2,500 to Talarico during his primary campaign against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, while former Bucks and Suns coach Mike Budenholzer contributed $2,600 over several donations.

Meanwhile, Mavericks CEO Rick Welts, who is retiring at the end of the year, donated $2,500 to Talarico in September. Welts’s boss, team owner Miriam Adelson, was the single largest donor among sports owners this cycle, donating more than $67 million to Republican causes. Welts became the first openly gay team president of a big four American men’s sports team when he came out in 2011.

Former NFL defensive end and host of the Green Light podcast Chris Long, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft and won two Super Bowls, donated $1,000 to Talarico during the primary.

Maine

More than 15 sports owners donated directly to the campaign committee of Republican incumbent Susan Collins, who is trying to hang on for a sixth term in the Senate in a state Kamala Harris won in 2024. Her donors included Jimmy Haslam, Patriots owner Kraft, Magic owners Dick and Dan DeVos, Pacers and Fever owner Simon, Giants owner Johnson, A’s owner Fisher, Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, and Predators owner Bill Haslam.

Jimmy and Dee Haslam donated nearly $130,000 to Collins-affiliated joint fundraising committee and the pro-Collins Pine Tree Results PAC. Adelson donated close to $25,000 to those two groups and Collins-tied Dirigo PAC. 76ers and Devils co-owner David Blitzer gave $7,000 to the joint fundraising committee.

No sports owner has a record of donating to her challenger, Troy Jackson. Seattle Storm co-owner Dawn Trudeau and Chicago Stars minority owner Pritzker donated to previous Democratic nominee Graham Platner before he dropped out following a sexual assault allegation. Pritzker gave $10,000 to the Maine Democratic Party.

Alaska

The Department of Justice tried and failed to intervene in Alaska’s race, which features two candidates named Dan Sullivan on the ballot. Democratic nominee Mary Peltola has come under fire after The New York Times reported her campaign recruited the second Dan Sullivan to confuse voters.

Sports owners were able to figure out the difference, and several donated to incumbent Republican Dan S. Sullivan. Figures including Dick and Dan Devos, Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill, the Haslams, Guardians owner Paul Dolan, FC Cincinnati owner Lindner, and Johnson donated.

Trudeau and Pritzker gave to Peltola, while no sports figures donated to Dan J. Sullivan.

North Carolina

Both sides of North Carolina’s Senate race saw action from sports team owners, receiving roughly $30,000 each to their principal campaign committees. Former Gov. Roy Cooper was the largest recipient of sports owner donations out of the nine Democratic Senate candidates FOS analyzed. 

Cooper received direct donations to his campaign committee from Seattle Kraken owner Samantha Holloway, 76ers and Devils owner Blitzer, and Pacers and Fever owner Simon. New York Giants chairman Tisch, Seahawks owner Khosla, and Philadelphia Flyers governor Dan Hilferty also donated to the Democrat through joint fundraising committees.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver donated to Cooper’s campaign committee, his affiliated joint fundraising committee, and the North Carolina Democratic Party. The NBA moved its 2017 All-Star Game out of North Carolina in response to the state’s controversial “bathroom bill” that required individuals to use publicly-operated restrooms according to the sex listed on their birth certificate, and was signed by Cooper’s Republican predecessor. The league then brought the event back to Charlotte in 2019 after Cooper rolled back the law. Silver also donated to Cooper in his 2020 gubernatorial re-election campaign. 

A number of active Republican donors gave to candidate Michael Whatley, including Dick and Dan DeVos, Walton, Johnson, and Anschutz.

Kansas

Despite President Donald Trump winning Kansas by 16 points, incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall is in a fight for survival against Democratic challenger and megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton. Marshall, a former practicing doctor, has been under fire for suing hundreds of former patients for medical debt; he recently cut an ad defending the lawsuits against the advice of his top advisors.

Though Trump held a rally in Kansas as recently as Sunday, suggesting some urgency around the election, sports owners mostly stayed out of the race.

Johnson gave $500 and Anschutz donated $7,000, both through the joint fundraising committee One Team Senate Majority.

Only one primary owner, Chicago Sky owner Michael J. Alter, donated to Hamilton, giving $500 in October. Kansas City Royals minority owner Terry Matlack, the co-founder of a private investment firm, and his wife Cathy contributed $7,000 apiece.

Minnesota

Harris won Minnesota in 2024 by four points, but polling for this year’s Senate race has not moved along with the national environment, which appears to heavily favor Democrats. Republican and former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya is running just behind Democratic Lt. Gov Peggy Flanagan, who has been dogged by her association with a welfare fraud scandal and unpopular incumbent Gov. Tim Walz.

Tafoya raked in donations from sports owners including Minnesota Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf—who have largely given to Democrats historically and in this cycle—Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold, Bidwill, the Haslams, Saints owner Gayle Benson, and Buccaneers co-owner Edward Glazer. She also received money from NBA legend John Stockton and NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay, a former colleague of Tafoya’s.

Flanagan received $2,500 from Chicago Stars owner Ricketts. 

Iowa

The campaign committee for former Rep. Ashley Hinson (R, Ia.) received just under $30,000 in donations from team owners including Dan DeVos, Walton, Kendrick, and Anschutz. 

No sports owners have a record of donating to Democrat Josh Turek, who is a two-time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball.