Patriot games: How New England’s disastrous NFL season is changing the 2024 election

The intersection of sports and politics typically involves social or cultural matters, but the disastrous New England Patriots football season is the latest event poised to have significant effects on the 2024 election.

The New England Patriots, which mostly dominated the NFL in the 2010s, were typically so good that candidates and campaigns knew that airing advertisements or appearing at games was a better option to attract voters than speaking to New Hampshire residents during games. Now, with a 3-10 record, the Patriots’ losing streak may alter campaign schedules for 2024 and give voters something else to look forward to on football weekends.

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“It’s still a deciding factor even though it’s a bad season,” Fred Doucette, senior adviser to Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign in New Hampshire, told Politico. “We still try to schedule around it. … But it has a lesser effect than it would have had two years ago.”

Instead of holding town halls or events to garner support, most candidates would do national media hits or call donors in other states when the Patriots were playing. Now, given the Patriots’ abysmal record, campaigns may ignore tradition and appeal to voters who are fed up with staring at the screen and seeing repeated losses.

“There are definitely cycles where it’s like, OK, clear Sunday afternoon,” said Fergus Cullen, a former New Hampshire GOP chairman. “It’s gotten so bad that the Pats are no longer clear-the-calendar events.”

Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) said campaigning during games is acceptable as long as it isn’t obvious.

“Sometimes you go to Market Basket, you sit outside and say ‘hi’ to people. Well, no one goes to the grocery store during the game,” Sununu said. “A good place to do it is if you’re going to go to a brewery.”

Ramaswamy and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) have campaigned during games, with the former engaging in door-knocking in Londonderry in late November when the Patriots lost to the New York Giants and the latter visiting Portsmouth businesses during last Sunday’s losing game against the Los Angeles Chargers. However, most 2024 presidential candidates are sticking to their lane, keeping off the trail during football Sundays, according to public schedules for former President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, however, has not scheduled any events during football Sundays and scoffed at the idea of doing so.

“No. I think the fans, even though they’re bad, still like to watch,” Christie said after a recent campaign event. “And I think if you try to campaign during the games, you’re asking for trouble.”

At a recent Thursday campaign event, a night when the Patriots were not playing, the former governor told the audience about his dedication to respecting the Patriots’ games. The only time he ever campaigned during a game was in the 2016 election, when Christie and then-Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas went to a sports bar during a game to chat with voters.

“I always ask, ‘When are the Patriots games?’ And we don’t do it,” Christie said. “You try to do something like this during a Patriots game,” he said, pointing to the area behind him, and “you’ll be sitting here by yourself.”

Christie sits in third place among most New Hampshire GOP primary voters, defeating DeSantis but trailing Trump and Haley. That’s better than the Patriots’ placement in the AFC, ranking last with four games remaining in the regular season.

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Ramaswamy’s campaign is looking to capitalize on voters no longer invested in the Patriots’ season. Sending him door-to-door during the Patriots-Giants game was a calculated choice, per his campaign advisers. Voters are most likely to be home during a game, though candidates risk angering fans if they miss their favorite team getting a touchdown.

Phillips’s campaign spokeswoman, Katie Dolan, said it’s a “pro-con” situation when it comes to holding events or knocking on doors during football games. However, the Minnesota Democrat “didn’t have any problems drawing a crowd” during the Patriots-Chargers matchup.