Former NFL player Jay Feely discusses goals after entering congressional race in Arizona
Former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely, a Republican, said Wednesday he wouldn’t shut out the other side if elected to Congress.
Watch: Former NFL player Jay Feely discusses goals after entering congressional race in Arizona | 9 mins
PHOENIX – A day after launching his first political campaign as a Republican, former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely said he wouldn’t shut out the other party if elected to Congress.
“I think we do need people that are willing to listen to the other side and communicate,” Feely told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Wednesday. “I’ve never been afraid to sit down with somebody who I know has beliefs completely different than me.”
Feely thinks it’s important to hear other perspectives, both in and out of the political sphere.
“You see it in families over the last few elections where people don’t even want to communicate anymore, which to me is asinine,” he said.
Americans should be able to focus on the same goals without the vitriol that exists in the current environment, Feely explained.
“Obviously, we have different beliefs, but we should have the respect to listen to each other,” he said. “I think we need more of that in Washington.”
Jay Feely says time is right to get into politics
Feely played 14 seasons in the NFL, including four with the Cardinals, before embarking on a broadcasting career with CBS Sports.
ICYMI: Former Cardinals kicker @jayfeely is throwing his hat in the ring for US Congress. He joined the show to tell us his plans.
Catch the interview again on the @KTAR923 Podcast page. pic.twitter.com/LTqa1kVd4M
— The Mike Broomhead Show on KTAR News (@BroomheadShow) April 23, 2025
He said the idea of running for office isn’t new, but the timing wasn’t right until now. That’s why he announced Tuesday he is seeking the seat in Arizona’s 5th Congressional District currently held by Rep. Andy Biggs, who is running for governor in 2026.
“We’re going to be empty nesters as of next year,” he said. “And so, that’s when my wife and I started to think about, ‘Hey, maybe this is the right time and this is the call for our life right now, and we do want to jump in and be a servant to the people of Arizona.’”
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Comments
28 Comments
You appropriately call out extremists from the left as a hurdle to reaching compromise, but what about the right? Insisting Trump won in 2020 — an objectively false assertion — isn’t just an extremist right wing belief, it’s GOP dogma. You either say The Idiot won or you’re a RINO.
How can you expect anyone on the left, even bonafide moderates, to work toward compromise when these are the people they need to work with?
The far left????
That’s a joke right??
MAGA is so far to the right they are trying to change the very structure of our country.
Blow it out your pie hole, Steve.
You are a prime example. Always crying for the left to be moderate and compromise while you sit on your hands and accept all the crap trump does and tell us we can’t compromise if we don’t like trump.
How much is that popcorn now???
It’s an R+ 10 District. Even with the present debacle in Washington, the Republican candidate will automatically win.
It’s in Feely’s interest to make mouth noises about “listening to both sides,” to get through the primary, but he’s clearly MAGA-aligned.
He met with President Trump at mar-a-lago to discuss running two years ago.
Recently made a shout out to Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House,for supporting Trump’s immigration policy and economic policy, (which we can all see is a roaring success.)