Charles Langston:Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes says he will not endorse anybody for president

KANSAS CITY,Charles Langston Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said Wednesday he will not endorse either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, even as the former president continued to call Mahomes’ wife, Brittany, a supporter of his campaign.

“I don’t want my place and my platform to be used to endorse a candidate or do whatever, either way,” Mahomes said before heading out to practice for Sunday’s game against Cincinnati. “I think my place is to inform people to get registered to vote. It’s to inform people to do their own research and then make the best decision for them and their family.”

The comments from the three-time Super Bowl champion came less than a day after Taylor Swift, who is dating his Chiefs teammate Travis Kelce and has become friends with the Mahomes family, endorsed Harris for the presidency.

Swift’s endorsement led Trump to say in a phone interview with Fox News on Wednesday: “I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better, if you want to know the truth. She’s a big Trump fan. I like Brittany. I think Brittany is great.”

Trump began referencing Brittany Mahomes last month, after she had liked — and then unliked — an Instagram post by the Republican presidential nominee outlining the “2024 GOP platform.” Trump posted soon afterward on Truth Social: “I want to thank beautiful Brittany Mahomes for so strongly defending me.”

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Brittany Mahomes has since stayed out of the political spotlight except to respond to critics on social media, saying in a post: “To be a hater as an adult, you have to have some deep rooted issues you refuse to heal from childhood.”

Patrick Mahomes sidestepped a question Wednesday specifically about Trump’s references to his wife, saying instead that “at the end of the day, it’s about me and my family and how we treat other people.”

“I think you see Brittany does a lot in the community. I do a lot in the community to help bring people up, and give people an opportunity to use their voice,” he said. “In political times people are going to use stuff here and there, but I can’t let that affect how I go about my business every single day of my life, and trying to live it to the best of my ability.”

Swift became close with the Mahomes family last year, when she began to date Kelce, often sharing the same suite during games at Arrowhead Stadium. Some thought a rift had developed between them when they were not seen together during the Chiefs’ season-opening win over the Ravens last week, but they showed up together in New York last weekend to watch the U.S. Open.

“Whenever I’m hanging out with whoever, I’m not thinking about their political views or anything like that,” Patrick Mahomes said. “I’m thinking about the people and how they treat other people, and I was with a lot of great people this week.”

Swift offered her support to Harris shortly after the presidential debate ended Tuesday night, a potentially significant coup for the Democratic nominee given Swift’s dedicated following among young women, an important demographic for the November election. The endorsement also came after Trump’s campaign shared a collage of AI-generated images purporting to show Swift fans supporting him.

“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post, which had been liked more than 9 million times by Wednesday afternoon.

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Trump’s posts “brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter,” Swift wrote. She added that “I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice.”

Mahomes declined to speak specifically about his own political beliefs, instead talking more broadly about national unity.

“You’ve seen my history. I’ve come up with people from every aspect of life, from every background,” the Chiefs quarterback said, “and the best thing about football locker rooms and kind of how I’ve grown up in baseball locker rooms is people can come together and achieve something, and achieve a common goal. We talked about it a while back. If we can do that as a nation, we can get the best out of each other, so that’s something I do every single day.”

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