WNBA players celebrate Wednesday after Democrat Raphael Warnock designed to win incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in the critical Senate election in Georgia. WNBA players campaigned for Warnock after Loeffler, co-owner of the WNBA Atlanta Dream team, criticized the league’s support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I woke up and smiled just remembering that once Kelly Loeffler tried to come after W and I helped @ReverendWarnock takes the Senate seat, “New York Liberty player Layshia Clarendon wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.” Winning has never felt so good.
“Raphael Warnock is the first black senator in Georgia, but also the first black Democratic senator ever elected in the south,” he wrote. Phoenix Mercury striker Brianna Turner. “50 years ago, this was unimaginable. I wonder where the south will be 50 years from today.”
The WNBA and Atlanta Dream came out on top with Black Lives Matter’s support all summer with BLM warm-ups and T-shirts, a statement Loeffler rejected in June and called on WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to stop.
In a statement mocking the August protest, Loeffler called the players’ shirts a sign of the cancellation culture. “This is just one more proof that the culture that cancels control wants to exclude anyone who disagrees with them,” she said. “It is clear that the league is more concerned with the political game than basketball, and I agree with what I wrote in June.”
In response, Atlanta Dream and other high-ranking WNBA members supported the Rev. Warnock, going so far as to wear “Vote Warnock” shirts at their games.
Atlanta dream striker Elizabeth Williams told The New York Times that the idea for the shirts came from WNBA legend Sue Bird in the Seattle Storm. Bird, who shared a photo with her in his Warnock jersey on Wednesday, told Deadspin last month that the players chose not to attack Loeffler and support Warnock instead.
“We found that this voice we have together is quite strong,” Bird told the sports press. “The size of our league allows this, we have about 144 players in the league, but we had to go through our careers fighting for things … So we developed this backbone and we learned to fight for ourselves. And now we lend this struggle to others. “
The Times also reported that the idea was discussed and approved by Stacey Abrams, who holds an advisory position on the board of the WNBA Players Association. Just two days after the players wore the shirts, the campaign raised more than $ 185,000 online, added 3,500 core donors and expanded Warnock’s Twitter account with nearly 3,500 followers, a campaign official told CBS News.
Players maintained their activism in the coming months, serving as survey workers as well illuminating the causes of racial justice in the months leading up to election day. Dream player Renee Montgomery gave up altogether last season to fight for social justice reform and voter support in Georgia. Some Dream players have told a “More than one vote” announcement released Monday, which called for people to vote in Georgia’s halftime races. In the video, Williams called on his supporters to vote for Warnock and Jon Ossoff, the other Democrat running for Senate.
Warnock is set to become the first black senator in Georgia’s history. Poll data show that he won 92% of the state’s black vote.
“We have been told we cannot win this election,” Warnock said in a statement to supporters on Wednesday. “But tonight I demonstrated with hope, hard work and the people around us, anything is possible. May my story be an inspiration for a young man trying to understand and capture the American dream.”
While the WNBA protest also called for Loeffler’s removal, neither she nor co-owner Mary Brock said the Dream is for sale. However, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has put his hat in the ring as a potential buyer. suggesting on Twitter that he wants to “form a property group” to buy the team. James, who leads More Than a Vote, also said he was “proud” of what he saw on Tuesday from voters in Georgia.
“I’m proud of my people for going out there and doing what they do best,” James said he told reporters. “And this is to be heard and to be seen and to be strong and to be engaged.”