Kamala Harris Campaign Wanted ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski To Break Tim Walz News
Representatives from Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign wanted former ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski to break the news that she had selected Tim Walz as her nominee for vice president.
However, according to a new profile in Sports Illustrated, another outlet scooped him before he could.
Wojnarowski, of course, retired from ESPN (and left behind a $7.3 million annual salary) to assume the role of general manager for the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team in September. And while Walz was a pathetic choice for vice president, breaking the news would have sent Wojnarowski out on quite the bang -- err, in Woj terms, the bomb.
Granted, he would have had to get clearance from ESPN to break the news. To its credit, ESPN has stuck to sports over the past few months. OutKick reported last month that ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro sent staffers a memo reminding them not to discuss the election publicly, a rule that no one, to our knowledge, has disobeyed.
LOS ANGELES - Adrian Wojnarowski attends a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics at Crypto.com Arena on December 25, 2023. (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
ESPN did not respond to our request asking about whether management would have permitted Wojnarowski to break the Walz news. The network did, however, tell OutKick in August that it would not accept a suggestion from one of Harris' allies to have her sit down with Paul Finebaum for an interview.
Tapping Wojnarowski to report the Walz news was another attempt by Harris' campaign to humanize her and better appeal to everyday voters. Despite the campaign's efforts, Harris failed to ever truly resonate with ordinary Americans.
The Financial Times conducted a story post-election that found Harris had drifted further to the left than independent voters were comfortable with, leaving the median voter behind.
Moreover, the Democrat firm Blueprint found that swing voters felt Harris' focus on left-wing culture war issues showed a chasm between her and the middle class.
Hence, Trump is making gains with the very demographic groups that Democrats implored to fear him: women, black people, Hispanics, and young Americans.
While Wojnarowski is popular among young and black Americans, two key demographics of the NBA, reporting Tampon Tim as Harris' running mate wouldn't have had much impact.
If Alex Cooper and "Call Her Daddy" couldn't help Kamala in that area, no one in the media could. She was a notoriously bad candidate. There is a reason she dropped out of the 2020 primary before the start of the Iowa caucuses.
Speaking of Wojnarowski, he revealed later in the profile that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March. This, along with burnout from the grueling insider grind, contributed to his decision to leave ESPN.
As I wrote on X Thursday morning, Wojnarowski had reached the pinnacle of his field. But he realized that time is not an endless supply and that he need not waste another moment doing what he didn't want to be doing.
"In the end, it’s just going to be your family and close friends," Woj said. "And it’s also, like, nobody gives a shit [about your job]."
He's right. All graves go unvisited in the end.
Prayers for Woj. Go, Bonnies.
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