For a while there, when one side spoke out a bit more than the other, lots of Americans made a point to say that sports and politics shouldn’t mix. The former should be a getaway, an escape from the latter. Then the United States elected a television star. Then they did it again.
The truth is that entertainment and politics have never lived in their own separate circles on the Venn Diagram. History books tell us as much. Politics is a game the same way sports are. The crossover appeal is inherent. And in the age of social media, so is the choosing of sides to the (hopefully not literal) death.
Donald Trump’s easy, four-touchdown win over Kamala Harris on Tuesday suggests a higher profile for the state of Arkansas. He won it easily, to no surprise, and with the state’s governor a former member of his administration.
There’s Josh Hawley, 44, who is Springdale-born but doesn’t claim the state, and also Tom Cotton, 47, one of the Natural State’s two senators, a power-player in Washington D.C. and big ally of the president-elect. It’s easy, then, to envision the word ‘Arkansas’ taking up more breath on the national stage over the course of the next four years (although not to the level it sustained from 1991-2000 when former governor Bill Clinton was in the highest office of the land).
Las Vegas notices the change in the air. Celebrities dot the betting odds put out by BetOnline on Wednesday when it comes to potential 2028 presidents. Cotton is among them. As are people like Aaron Rodgers and Taylor Swift. Such an outcome isn’t as far-fetched as it might sound, according to Vegas. Cotton sits at +2500 and Hawley at +10000, which are the same odds as Elon Musk and Ivanka Trump.
Which got us to thinking, with the profile of the state sure to grow, is there any way the state’s flagship school could enter the fray in the 2028 election, even tangentially? Neither governor Sarah Huckabee-Sanders nor Cotton are U of A-Fayetteville grads. Clinton wasn’t, either, though he and his wife Hillary, who incidentally lost the 2016 election to Trump, taught at the university law school and got hitched in Fayetteville. But plenty of potential exists for others who graduated from the U of A or were Razorbacks at some point to make some hay in politics.
Note: there are no big-time business people listed. As someone like Musk has borne true, business interests get in bed with politicians, but they don’t become them. Not yet, that is. Accordingly, you won’t find Jerry Jones, the Waltons (or anyone affiliated with Walmart, like, say, Doug McMillon) or the Tysons below.
Bobby Portis
OK, this one is a bit, sure. But former Arkansas and current Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis tweeted over the summer that you should vote for him for president.
Portis, 29, left the Hogs after two seasons but has maintained his status as beloved for a school that often forgets about its former players once they hit the professional ranks. In an era during which qualifications are of no consequence, Portis, who left Arkansas after two seasons, could earn some votes. Joke ones, but lots of people don’t take the presidency seriously, anyway.
John Calipari
Calipari, 65, wouldn’t have made this list during last basketball season. Arkansas coaxed him away from Kentucky and Razorbacks fans went from hating him to loving him. And John Calipari already talks like a politician. He’s awfully smooth. His former players love him, too. He doesn’t, however, always leave the fans of his former stops in the best of feeling. Regardless, the demeanor and national fame is definitely there.
Asa Hutchinson
Won’t happen. The 74-year-old Hutchinson tried it already and found national politics not befitting of sanity. He stayed in the primary for the 2024 election for a good long while but never found legs with an angry populace. His own party doesn’t seem to care for him anymore, either way. Still, he’s an actual politician with an actual resume. If this were the 90s, or even the 2000s, Hutchinson would stand a great chance. It isn’t and he doesn’t.
John Boozman
Speaking of actual politicians, Boozman is the state’s other senator, alongside Cotton. He went to Arkansas for just a year, but played under coach Frank Broyles for a season before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001-2011 before getting the Senate seat. Like Cotton, he is a Trump acolyte, which would earn him some looks by default. Unlike Cotton, he doesn’t have national name recognition. And he’s 73. With such a focus on age – for everyone except Trump, I guess – Boozman seems especially unlikely, though.
Jake Bequette
A former Razorbacks defensive end who also played a few years in the NFL, Bequette, 35, is also a military man and outspoken Trump supporter. So outspoken, in fact, he challenged Boozman for his Senate seat in the 2022 primary. He was roundly rejected 58% to 20%, but his social-media hijinks keep his name active in conversations and with Trump winning a second term, a more focused campaign might see the 35-year-old Bequette have a legitimate shot at a seat in Congress were he to try again. From there, anything is possible.
Tom Brady, his most famous NFL teammate, chimes in with 500/1 odds on the 2028 Election Day winner odds list, by the way.
T.J. Holmes
For a time, the University of Arkansas grad was the state’s brightest star on the national media landscape as a primetime anchor at CNN. Holmes, 47, wouldn’t win his home state, of course, as he would likely run as a Democrat. He also won’t ever run. The star faded a bit in the last year-plus as his relationship with a colleague at ABC News came to light as did accusations of other affairs. He was fired from ABC and has since started a well-known podcast with iHeartRadio. Not exactly slouch stuff and podcast hosts are the new superstars of media. Plus, maybe the affairs are moot. They have been for others.
All of this should be taken with salt. Plenty of salt. None of the mentioned really have a shot. But considering Las Vegas oddsmakers have tons of celebrities listed with semi-legitimate, albeit longshot, odds to be president in 2028, everything is worth a mention. Needless to say, if any of the above were to gain the nomination as a Republican, he’d win his home state.
America, where anyone with a mouthpiece and an angry public can succeed.
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