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Michele Tafoya to chair Minnesota GOP campaign following Super Bowl exit

Michele Tafoya wrapped up her career as an NFL sideline reporter with Sunday's Super Bowl, saying goodbye after 327 games. We've known for a month that Tafoya was leaving, but we didn't know what she'd be doing next. The only hint she'd given is that she was leaving sports altogether for a totally different gig.

On Monday we found out what that gig would be. In an interview with The Athletic's Richard Deitsch, Tafoya announced that she's entering politics, and will be co-chairing the campaign of Kendall Qualls, a businessman and Army veteran who announced last month that he is running for governor in Minnesota as a Republican candidate.

Tafoya's future plans

Tafoya told Deitsch that leaving NBC and sports was entirely her decision. In fact, she wanted to leave following the 2019 NFL season, but "Sunday Night Football" executive producer Fred Gaudelli convinced her to stay through NBC's next Super Bowl. She's wanted to do work outside of sports for awhile, and wanted to "make her move" while she still has the "energy" to chase her interests.

“I got to a point in my life where I wanted to try other things, and there are some things that are really important to me," Tafoya said. "This is not to say that sports isn’t an important field, that my job isn’t an important job. But in my position, I was not as free to be as vocal about world events that I’m concerned about. It’s not because I was told to shut up. I want to be very clear about that. But look, if you’re on a show like ‘Sunday Night Football,’ which is the No. 1 show in prime time for 11 straight years, unprecedented, the last thing they want to do is invite controversy.”

Tafoya told the New York Post in January that her next job would let her express her opinions more freely, and that's what she intends to do. She tested the waters on that in November when she appeared on "The View," and said she had no sympathy for Colin Kaepernick, an opinion that got her booed by the show's audience.

Nov 25, 2021; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; NBC Sports commentator Michele Tafoya after the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Buffalo Bills at the Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
Sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya is leaving sports reporting behind for a job in politics. (Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports)

Tafoya made a point to tell Deitsch that the comments she made on "The View" had nothing to do with her leaving NBC.

"If people recall, I worked for three straight weeks after ‘The View’ appearance," Tafoya said. "So if they were really angry, they would have yanked me right away.”

In her interview, Tafoya said she "plans to make herself available to appear on shows that discuss politics and cultural and social issues found in the front of the newspaper." She will also appear at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) in late February, though it's not clear what she'll be doing there. She was planning to interview Enes Freedom, who was also going to be appearing at CPAC. However, he was recently waived after being traded to the Houston Rockets, so his schedule is in flux.

Could Tafoya run for office?

Tafoya, who told Deitsch that she classifies herself as both "libertarian" and "pro choice," said that she's been approached to run for office in Minnesota, which is where she began her broadcasting career. She said it's not in her plans right now, but didn't rule it out in the future.

“I’ll say this — I’ve been asked multiple times to run for office in Minnesota,” Tafoya said. “I know there are people who really want me to do that. My husband is not one of those people (laughs). I have to respect that too because I love and respect my husband and I want our marriage to be a happy place for both of us. He has no problem with me getting on a podcast and saying whatever the heck I want to say. I think it’s the commitment, the time commitment, what it could put our family through, all of those things. I get pissed off and say that shouldn’t be. Why should I run from that? I want to run into that. But I just don’t know yet. Not at the moment. I will say not at the moment. A lot will depend on what transpires here over the next year.”