The Atlanta Dream: How the WNBA Turned Georgia Blue

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While most Americans watched Georgia’s nail-biting senatorial election from afar, the Women NBA’s Atlanta Dream, an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia,  took matters into their own hands, using social media to spread their message on the importance of voting. Consequently, by the time January 5th 2021 arrived Democratic Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock secured 51% of the votes, leading to a monumental victory over Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, co-owner of the Atlanta Dream (“Georgia Senate”, 2021). Both Warnock’s and Democrat Jon Ossof’s win in Georgia successfully turned the state blue, giving Democrats the control of the Senate. 

The WNBA is no stranger to being at the forefront of social justice campaigns in sports, their agency to social and racial justice highlighting the power and influence professional athletes wield in the political sphere. The WNBA players, for example, were among the first to wear “Black Lives Matter” warm-up shirts to highlight police brutality in the black community (Lowe and Shelburne, 2020). Following the progression of activism, the WNBA had also planned to paint Black Lives Matter on their court’s bubble in Bradenton, Florida. This fielded harsh criticism from Loeffler who had differing opinions and wrote a letter in early June to the WNBA’s Commissioner, Cathy Englebery, castigating the players’ accounts to these recent social movements. She also called the Black Lives Matter Movement “divisive” and “Marxist” during a Fox News Interview (Musto, 2020). The WNBA players, in response, immediately condemned Loeffler’s position and wore shirts dedicated to Breonna Tayler, a medical worker in Louisville KY who was killed by police in a mishandled raid. 

It is not surprising, therefore, that the WNBA, more specifically the Atlanta Dream, was a significant factor in Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock’s win. Angle Delevoye, a PhD candidate in political science and quantitative methods at Yale, concluded that through data analysis the “WNBA helped generate momentum.” She also stated that, “The WNBA has a long history of activism. So the players were ready for this moment.” (Gregory, 2021) Tiffany Hayes, Atlanta Dreams shooting guard added on by saying, “We were definitely the loudest voice. We were the sternest voice. And we back what we said, I don’t see any other hand that was bigger.” (Gregory, 2021) Williams, another player for the Atlanta Dream, said, “I think there was that level of determination, like all right, at the end of the day we are strong women who are professional athletes, and we’re going to do our job and continue to inspire through our play and we’re also going to use our voices off the court. So despite the frustration and disappointment and all that, we still wanted to make out that we were intentional about our words and our actions that would follow.” (Gregory, 2021) It is unmistakable that the Dream players wanted to resolve this issue in hand by responding attentively and positively. 

Other WNBA players made public statements directed at Senator Kelly Loeffler. Sue Bird, a point guard on Seattle Storm said, “The more we fight her- people were asking, ‘Should she be an owner?’ - the more we were basically calling for her head, the more it was just playing into her hands. She got to show the state of Georgia, ‘Oh look at me, I am standing up to these people and telling them to keep politics out of sports.’ It was ironic that this woman was saying, ‘Keep politics out of sports,’ when she was actually using us as a political pawn.” From that point on, the players agreed to concentrate on Warnock. They agreed to support and endorse Warnock after consulting Stacey Abrams, a member of the WNBA player's associated board of advocates. 

On November 3rd, 2020, in the general election, Warnock failed to receive the needed votes. In order to combat the democratic loss, Sue Bird suggested wearing “Vote Warnock” t-shirts before games. Some players, naturally, were concerned about the “Vote Warnock” shirts, as it was bound to stir public controversy that politics should be kept out of sports and that the WNBA players should stick to shooting and dribbling. The players were also worried about the power dynamic between the owner and the players, and the implications of the team’s defiance against their boss, Loeffler. Atlanta Dream guard Renee Montgomery recalls, “There was a power dynamic there where she is my boss and you just know that people that have money have a lot of connections. And you could end up being blackballed and not even know what happened.” (Gregory, 2021) 

Despite the initial unease, the Atlanta Dream knew that their advocacy was more important than just themselves. This was the right call; the WNBA’s activism received an outpour of support from the public and the viewership going into the WNBA finals rose to 68%. Outside of the court, the players continued to use their platform to increase voter turnout and recruit poll workers. Social Media was their bread and butter, allowing tens of thousands of people to see their determination for voter registration and the importance of the Georgia runoff. 

Before the day of the runoff, Lebron James’ organization, More Than A Vote, released a get-out and vote ad voiced by the Atlanta Dreams’ Montgomery, Hayes, and Williams, along with Atlanta Dream alumni Courtney Williams. Their persistence succeeded as Warnock earned 51% of the votes while Loefller received 49%. Looking back at the Atlanta Dream’s impact, Montgomery exclaims, “I need to have a shirt that says, ‘We Did That.’” 

References

“Georgia 2020 Senate Special Runoff Election Results.” CNN, Cable News Network, 2021, www.cnn.com/election/2020/results/state/georgia/senate-special-election-runoff.

Gregory, Sean. “How Atlanta Dream, WNBA Helped Warnock Defeat Loeffler.” Time, Time, 7 Jan. 2021, time.com/5927075/atlanta-dream-warnock-loeffler/.

Lowe, Zach, and Ramona Shelburne. “WNBA Players to Spotlight Breonna Taylor's Name on Jerseys; 'Say Her Name' on Warm-Ups.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 6 July 2020, www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/29418977/wnba-players-wear-jerseys-names-women-killed.

Musto, Julia. “Sen. Loeffler Stands by Opposition to 'Divisive' Black Lives Matter amid Row with WNBA Players.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 9 July 2020, www.foxnews.com/media/kelly-loeffler-wnba-ownership-black-lives-matter.