He’s received a leg up on the competitors.
Former NFL kicker Jay Feely — whose profession included stints with the New York Giants and Jets — introduced Tuesday that he’ll run as a Republican for Arizona’s fifth District seat within the Home of Representatives.
“I’m enthusiastic about this subsequent chapter of my life,” Feely informed ESPN. “I feel that I really feel God’s calling urgent me into service, and that’s actually what I imagine it’s, is the civil service.
“I don’t imagine we’ve got sufficient politicians that get into political workplace not for self-serving measures and that get into political workplace and don’t need it to be a profession, and that’s what I imagine,” he added.
“I imagine it is extremely a lot a civil service.”
Feely, 48, is working within the 2026 election for the congressional seat at present occupied by former Home Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) — who introduced in January that he’s working for governor within the Grand Canyon State.
Arizona’s fifth District is taken into account a protected Republican seat, with Biggs and President Trump each profitable the district by a 20 proportion level margin final November.
Feely is the third main GOP candidate to announce a bid for the fifth District.
Former state Rep. Travis Grantham and Military veteran and Trump 2020 marketing campaign discipline organizer Alex Stovall introduced their candidacies earlier this month.
Feely, who describes himself as “a proud conservative and staunch supporter of President Donald Trump,” has already secured at the very least one notable endorsement, from Home Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“I’m honored to have the endorsement of Congressman @Jim_Jordan, a fearless conservative and unwavering champion of the America First agenda,” Feely wrote on X. “His assist is deeply significant as we launch this marketing campaign to defend our freedoms and ship actual, lasting outcomes for the East Valley.”
Feely informed ESPN that Jordan and Trump each requested him to run for Congress in 2022, however he declined as a result of his kids have been nonetheless in highschool on the time.
He indicated that his children being out of the home and the July assassination try in opposition to Trump in Butler, Pa., performed a major position in influencing his resolution this time round.
“The lawfare that Democrats did in opposition to President Trump and also you watched him get shot. That was a giant second for me. I bear in mind beginning to actually take into consideration working for workplace the day that he received shot,” Feely informed Fox Information Digital.
Feely, a former College of Michigan Wolverine, retired from the NFL in 2014 after a 14-year profession, which noticed him play for seven groups, together with the Arizona Cardinals, New York Giants and New York Jets.
He’s spent the final 10 seasons within the sales space, broadcasting NFL video games for CBS.
“I’m so grateful for my 10 years at @CBSSports,” Feely wrote on X. “They took an opportunity on a kicker and allowed me to be within the sales space calling NFL video games (Solely the 2nd Ok ever to try this after the legendary Pat Summerall) I loved each minute and I’ll miss the folks I labored with essentially the most.”
The previous kicker additionally served as a rep on the NFL Gamers Affiliation, the league’s union, and hung out on the physique’s govt committee, combating for gamers’ rights to insurance coverage. F
Feely informed ESPN that the high-pressure conditions he’s skilled as an NFL kicker — the place he made 332 out of 402 discipline aim makes an attempt — and his broadcasting gig will serve him effectively Congress.
“[I] assume that’s certainly one of your greatest jobs as a congressman is to have the ability to talk to your constituents, have the ability to speak concerning the problems with the day and why you imagine the best way you imagine and to have the ability to do it in a method that individuals can perceive it,” he defined.
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