WNBA players wear shirts endorsing political rival of team co-owner Sen. Kelly Loeffler

David K. Li and Associated Press
·2 min read

WNBA players donned "Vote Warnock" shirts on Tuesday, in opposition to Atlanta Dream co-owner and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler over her opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Loeffler, an appointee who took office earlier this year in place of retired Sen. Johnny Isakson, is on the ballot for that seat in November against Democrat Raphael Warnock.

She's been opposed to WNBA efforts to draw attention to social justice and Black Lives Matter.

Players from Seattle Storm, Chicago Sky, Phoenix Mercury — and Loeffler's own Dream — were spotted wearing "Vote Warnock" shirts in warmups before their games in Bradenton, Florida.

“It was something we talked through and wanted to be strategic, intentional about our words and language,” Dream forward Elizabeth Williams told reporters in a Zoom call on Wednesday.

”We wanted to make sure, whatever action was taken, that we felt like in doing so all the ideas we had been focused on weren’t lost.”

The "Vote Warnock" shirts were the brainchild of Seattle point guard Sue Bird, a four-time Olympic gold medalist.

Bird on Tuesday said Warnock, a minister from the famed Ebenezer Baptist Church, "has spent his life fighting for the people and we need him in Washington."

Loeffler issued a statement calling the t-shirt endorsement an example of "cancel culture."

"This is just more proof that the out of control cancel culture wants to shut out anyone who disagrees with them," the senator said.

"It’s clear that the league is more concerned with playing politics than basketball."

Warnock retweeted Loeffler's response — but attached one of the most famous GIFs in sports social media history, of former Los Angeles Lakers Nick Young celebrating a jump shot as it clanged off the rim.

Georgia has been one of the nation's more reliably red states, having not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since Max Cleland in 1996.

But with President Donald Trump lagging in the polls, even in red Georgia, Democrats believe the Peach State is ripe to be picked off.

Georgia has 16 Electoral College votes at stake and a rare two Senate seats are up for grabs. In addition to the Loeffler-Warnock race, polls show GOP incumbent David Perdue locked in a tight race with Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff.