Florida Democrats are eyeing Dwyane Wade and Grant Hill as potential candidates to represent The Sunshine State in the U.S. Senate, according to NBC News. The former NBA legends are reportedly sitting at the top of their wish list of people, who could possibly go up against far-right Republican Senator Rick Scott in 2024.
Despite Florida appearing in the news regularly for its bills restricting drag shows and prohibiting transgender children from receiving prescriptions, surgeries, and other treatments affirming their gender, Democratic donors are convinced that it’s not too late to turn things around.
They’re aiming to do this by taking star-studded approaches, as Wade and Hill both are Orlando residents. “Dwyane Wade is a Florida legend, whose leadership past and present has a lot of folks in our state sending feelers out,” said Ray Paultre, Florida Alliance’s executive director, in an interview with NBC News. He added, “There are different groups talking to a diverse set of potential candidates — all of which would be great options,” he continued. “I won’t speak to where each of those conversations are but I can confirm that there are organized efforts to engage everyone you’ve mentioned.”
Meanwhile, “Grant Hill has great name ID,” said Orlando-based trial attorney John Morgan, who is also a national Democratic donor. “He would raise a boatload of money and is one of the smartest guys you will ever meet,” he added. “Grant Hill would beat the s**t out of Rick Scott.”
It is worth noting that Wade and his wife, award-winning actress Gabrielle Union, along with their four children (three of which are from previous relationships), relocated to Los Angeles a couple years ago. While rocking the red carpet at the Met Gala earlier in May, the three-time NBA champion spoke out about Florida politicians’ anti-LGBTQ policies given the fact that his 15-year-old daughter Zaya identifies as transgender. “Miami has done so much for me—Florida has done so much for me. … But the last couple years, the laws, the politics [have] really become this big conversation,” Wade said to Variety. “This unsafe conversation. And it’s unsafe for my daughter, it’s unsafe for all the young kids, the youth and the adults and the [elderly] in the trans community. So for us, as much as I love that city and as much as I’m always going to be a part of it … for the safety of my family, that’s what it was for me. I couldn’t move back.”
While there is no guarantee or knowledge pointing to whether Wade or Hill would be interested in running and entering politics on a larger scale, donors believe their popularity can attract voters, similar to Donald Trump‘s 2016 presidential run, NBC News reported.
Do you think Wade and Hill will toss their hats into the political ring?