Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren: How WNBA’s best see the 2020 presidential election

On eve of voting, some opinions

Like much of the Democratic electorate, the best players in the WNBA have some diverging opinions about the 2020 presidential race.

“I’m educating myself about the candidates right now,” Skylar Diggins-Smith said of the current field. She said she typically watches the debates with her husband, and the two of them discuss what they like and dislike about each candidate. “I’m trying to do my due diligence there.”

Some players have already made their choices. For instance, Layshia Clarendon has been an Elizabeth Warren supporter since last year.

So I’ve never donated to a presidential candidate before (not even Obama I was in high school, then college lol) but today I donated to @ewarren’s because her message, policies & plans have me fired up!!! For the first time in a while I feel like there is hope again! #Warren2020
— Layshia Clarendon (@Layshiac) September 27, 2019

Diana Taurasi, however, is for Bernie Sanders, along with her wife, Penny Taylor.

“Penny and I have been Bernie Sanders fans for a long time,” Taurasi said. “Obviously he’s run in a couple of elections. We’ve heard his message, we hear what he stands for. I mean, Bernie was doing things when it wasn’t popular. Bernie was the one who kind of made it okay to be far left on issues which right now I think is what attracts people obviously, because we have Donald Trump in office and extremism is very popular. And I like what Bernie stands for, a lot of the things he says, it’ll help everyone, so feel the burn.”

More from WNBA

Other players are taking more of a wait-and-see attitude. Sue Bird, for instance, isn’t yet following the lead of her girlfriend, Megan Rapinoe, who has been all-in for Warren.

“Obviously, I am just going to vote for whoever gets the nomination,” Bird said. “I know that’s a tad bit of a cop out, but I mean, it doesn’t matter to me. And I think, yes, there’s some people that are saying things that I might like more than others or might agree with more than others. But I think, for me personally, that’s just where I find I’m more comfortable. Right? Rather than choosing someone now, I’d rather wait to see who gets the nomination and go from there.”

And that is, for clarity, where all of the players I spoke to are going to end up. The same was true for Breanna Stewart, who spoke about educating herself on which players most closely hewed to the issues that matter most to her as well.

Bird pointed out that, ultimately, she hopes there is unity behind whoever wins this race.

“I do think that the one thing that saddens me, I guess, as I start to turn on the TV and hear different Democrats vying for that spot. I don’t like how we’re tearing each other down, because that just gives other people a reason to not vote Democratic. But overall, I think there are a lot of good messages with some of these candidates. And we’ll go from there.”

By go from there, Bird wanted to make sure it was understood where she’d be going.

“I would vote for a tree, to be honest,” Bird said of the Democratic nominee. “It doesn’t really matter.”

Diggins-Smith, after talking about how and why she’d choose a candidate, made the same point with an expression of purpose.

“But it ain’t Donald Trump. I’ll say that,” Diggins-Smith said. “That ain’t the candidate I’m picking!”

Love our 24/7 women’s basketball coverage? Join our Patreon now and support this work, while getting extra goodies and subscriber-only content for yourself.