EXCLUSIVE: A former NFL kicker is launching his bid for Congress on Tuesday after revealing to Fox News Digital what inspired him to make the decision to run for office.
The sports commentator, Jay Feely, is entering the Republican primary for Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District to replace Rep. Andy Biggs, who’s running to be the Grand Canyon State’s next governor.
Feely said that while he’s been interested in politics for years, it was the assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump last year that inspired him to run for office.
“The lawfare that Democrats did against President Trump and you watched him get shot. That was a big moment for me. I remember starting to really think about running for office the day that he got shot,” he told Fox News Digital during an exclusive interview shortly before his announcement.
Ex-NFL kicker ‘seriously considering’ Congress run: report
Feely played for the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, New York Jets, the Miami Dolphins, and the Chicago Bears. Most recently, he’s been a CBS Sports analyst.
He noted that some of his experience on the executive committee at the NFL Player’s Association was an opportunity for him to hone his leadership skills to potentially bring to Washington.
“One of those times we had a lockout and the players were locked out by the owners. We had to negotiate,” he said.
“Those types of negotiations are similar to what goes on in the House and the Senate and goes on in Congress and, you know, you’re doing those types of negotiations all the time. And we saw it with the continued resolution just a month ago,” Feely added, adding that he’s “certainly prepared” for the job.
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Amid major policy changes at the border, Feely maintains that the largest issue facing the state is illegal immigration.
“The Democrats told us that they needed a bill passed in Congress or they couldn’t fix the border. And President Biden sat by and let tens of millions of illegals come into our country and he could have taken the measures that President Trump did in three months,” he said.
The Republican primary currently includes former House Speaker Pro Tempore Travis Grantham and Army veteran Alex Stovall.
Cook Political Report ranks the district as solid Republican, and it is not a target by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as a pickup opportunity, which is the case in Arizona’s first, second, and sixth districts.
Still, Feely believes he’s a “uniter” ahead of what’s expected to be a competitive midterm cycle as Republicans have an extremely narrow majority in the House.
“I think one of the things from a Republican perspective is we haven’t stayed united. Democrats stay united even when they completely disagree on issues. They’re a united front. And I give Speaker Johnson a lot of credit right now because he has kept this since President Trump was sworn into office. He has kept Republicans united, he got the cabinet members through, they’re staying united behind President Trump and his endeavors to fix the border and to fix our economy,” Feely said.