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THREAD: All eyes are on Georgia tonight. But long before we knew that the Peach State elections would determine which party controls the US Senate, #WNBA players were using their platforms to support Dem. Raphael Warnock — bucking one of their league's team owners in the process.
There's been bad blood between WNBA players and Atlanta Dream co-owner Sen. Kelly Loeffler for a while, but tension boiled over in July after Loeffler came out against the WNBA's plan for players to wear "Black Lives Matter" and "Say Her Name" warm-ups: https://www.insider.com/wnba-players-demand-kelly-loeffler-ban-black-lives-matter-comment-2020-7
Loeffler later called for the W to "remove politics from sports," all the while using her connection to the league as a rallying point in her hotly contested special election: https://www.insider.com/sen-kelly-loeffler-wnba-atlanta-dream-doug-collins-special-election-2020-7
Once the season began, she joined forces with Ted Cruz and Tomi Lahren to rebuke WNBA players for walking off the court before the playing of the national anthem prior to tipoff: https://www.insider.com/ted-cruz-tomi-lahren-kelly-loeffler-blast-wnba-anthem-protests-2020-7
But after calling for Loeffler's removal from the league failed to gain traction, WNBA players got creative. They organized to publicly endorse @ReverendWarnock — Loeffler's Democratic opponent — while living and playing in the Wubble. https://www.insider.com/wnba-stars-endorse-dream-owner-kelly-loefflers-senate-race-opponent-2020-8
Loeffler blamed "out of control cancel culture" for the players' very public show of support for her political rival: https://www.insider.com/kelly-loeffler-blames-cancel-culture-wnba-vote-warnock-shirts-2020-8
WNBA player support ushered the race into the national spotlight was instrumental in helping Warnock survive the state's jungle election back in November: https://www.insider.com/wnba-players-georgia-senate-runoff-vs-team-owner-kelly-loeffler-2020-11
Analysis conducted by Yale PhD candidate @AngeleDelevoye suggests WNBA players' support for Warnock helped boost his fundraising and his polling — enabling him to force today's runoff against Loeffler: https://www.insider.com/wnba-players-raphael-warnock-endorsement-pushed-dem-in-georgia-polls-2020-12
The WNBA season ended in October, but players haven't let up their support for Warnock. In particular, Atlanta Dream center (and Duke alum 
) @E_Williams_1 has been active in campaigning for the Reverend.
) @E_Williams_1 has been active in campaigning for the Reverend.
That's the story of how WNBA players have done more than their fair share in influencing the future of the republic. Stay tuned to see how it all unfolds and, if you're still here, thanks for reading through!
