Aaron Judge, Trae Young Among Athletes Who Received Write-in Votes for NYC Mayor

More than 40 write-in votes went toward sports figures in the New York City mayoral election
Aaron Judge, Trae Young Among Athletes Who Received Write-in Votes for NYC Mayor
Aaron Judge, Trae Young Among Athletes Who Received Write-in Votes for NYC Mayor /

It's been five months since Trae Young became Public Enemy No. 1 in New York City but he still lives rent-free in one fan's head. 

The Atlanta Hawks star received a single vote in New York City's general election for mayor on Nov. 2. It still left him 753,800 short of mayor-elect Eric Adams, but it's not the first time he's been involved in the New York mayor discussion. 

After Game 1 of the first-round of NBA playoffs last year, mayor Bill de Blasio felt it was necessary to spend time during his public address to tell Young to "stop hunting for fouls." 

While most elections have the usual write-in suspects like Homer Simpson, Bruce Wayne and Donald Duck, several New York sports fans also felt inspired to vote for their favorite sports stars. 

Among sports figures, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge took home the most write-in votes with nine. Yankees teammates Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner also earned a vote, while the Mets were represented by Jacob deGrom and Pete Alonso.  

Meanwhile, New York baseball legends like Joe Torre, Darryl Strawberry (two votes) and Derek Jeter each received votes. Carlos Correa has yet to comment on Jeter's mayoral vote, although Jeter received as many votes as Correa has Gold Gloves (one).. 

The Knicks were most represented with Tom Thibodeau (three votes if you count the misspelled Tom Thibodau), Kemba Walker and RJ Barrett getting votes. After Judge, Julius Randle was the most popular with six votes, while Knicks legends Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier and Carmelo Anthony also received votes. 

James Harden and Kyrie each received a vote, but Kevin Durant was left to wonder what could've been for the Nets' Big Three after one voter spelled his name Kevia Durant. 

"Bing Bong," this year's nonsensical rallying cry for Knicks fans, even received two votes, the same amount as Jets quarterback Mike White. But sports fans may have redeemed themselves with votes for Harlem native Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Colin Kaepernick.

In total around 40 write-in votes went toward sports figures. Napoleon once said, "In politics, absurdity is not a handicap," but New York fans may have finally put that to the test. 

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Andrew Gastelum
ANDREW GASTELUM

Andrew Gastelum is a programming editor and writer at Sports Illustrated who specializes in soccer, the Olympics and international sports. He joined the SI staff in March 2021 and previously contributed to Howler Magazine and NBC Sports. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame alum and is currently based in Italy.