John Stockton, the retired 10-time NBA all-star point guard, made a rare public political endorsement on Tuesday by joining “Jesse Watters Primetime” to support Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Democrat who had previously declared his candidacy as an independent for president in 2024.
Stockton, a nearly two-decade Utah Jazz player, said Kennedy’s campaign offers a rare chance to back a unified platform and message at the presidential level.
“It’s a rare opportunity to have a candidate like him available in the first place, but never has it been more important,” he stated.
We are more split than before. More than ever, we have mistrusted the government. More items that aren’t even legal are being forced down our throats.
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According to Stockton, Kennedy, on the other hand, is a “warrior in all categories” who defends individual liberties and is frequently the “most intelligent person in the room.”
He claimed that each time he sees Kennedy on the campaign trail, he gets increasingly “presidential” and humane in his discussions of the issues and people he meets.
“If you ever have a chance to hear him speak, I highly recommend it, because you can be a doubter, and then you hear him speak and you say, ‘Wow, there’s something to that man,'” stated Stockton.
Despite his sports reputation, Stockton said he usually kept his political opinions to himself, but he still felt Kennedy deserved his vote.
“I’ve always tried to keep my voting private, and I probably try to keep it pretty balanced historically, but again, this is a rare opportunity.”
The former Jazz musician said that Kennedy’s X, now known as Twitter, videos of himself performing exercises are also beneficial, stating that any president must maintain a strong body and mind.
The host, Jesse Watters, also emphasized recent polls that indicated Kennedy was gaining support from President Biden and former President Donald Trump. One such survey by Harvard-Harris put Trump at 44%, Biden at 36%, and Kennedy at 21%.
Since populist Texas tech billionaire Ross Perot was accused of acting as a spoiler in 1992 when incumbent President George H. W. Bush lost reelection to then-former Arkansas Democratic Gov. Bill Clinton, Watters claimed that no third-party candidate has ever posed such a statistical threat.
Third-party contenders like Perot and Kennedy have given major contenders a run for their money every few elections. Examples of such contests include the 1968 American Independent Party ticket run by former segregationist governor of Alabama George Wallace, the 1912 Republican turned Progressive ex-President Theodore Roosevelt, and the 1824 four-way race that forced the House of Representatives to hold a contingent election that Andrew Jackson ultimately won.
