Milwaukee Bucks Executive Running For U.S. Senate

Editor’s note: A while back, we checked up on the Brew Hoop community, and specifically asked how you felt about the tone our writing and the comments section has taken over the past year or so.

We are a basketball website, and we will remain a basketball website. At the same time, when current events, politics, and social movements overlap with our sport, our team, and our city, so too do they overlap with our conversations on this basketball website.

A number of people responded that they still wanted us to focus on basketball; consider this fair warning that this article will not focus on basketball. As always, we welcome your feedback, by contact form or via email, at brewhoop@sbnation.com.

The Milwaukee Bucks are in the news again for something that has nothing to do with basketball. Bucks senior vice president Alex Lasry announced this morning that he will campaign for one of Wisconsin’s two seats in the United States Senate, which will be elected in 2022.

Lasry, 33, is the son of Bucks principal owner Marc Lasry, a billionaire venture capitalist who invested in the team (along with Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan) back in 2014. He’s not the first person to declare their intentions to run for Senate, though the field is expected to be relatively full. The seat is currently occupied by Senator Ron Johnson, who had previously stated he would serve only two terms but has not publicly announced whether or not he would seek a third.

Lasry’s campaign announcement video made Fiserv Forum a major focus, as an example of his commitment to Wisconsin. However, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that the Lasry family had little to do with Wisconsin until the Milwaukee Bucks became available, thanks to previous owner Senator Herb Kohl wanting to sell the team only to investors willing to keep the team in Wisconsin. The value of the Milwaukee Bucks has appreciated considerably since 2014, valued recently at $1.625 billion despite being purchased for “only” $550 million. That increase undoubtedly will make funding a run for a Senate seat easier, even if the owners have historically eschewed the luxury tax.

(No, Malcolm Brogdon has nothing to do with this, but sometimes the low-hanging fruit tastes good.)

It’s no secret that the majority of the Brew Hoop staff leans to the left politically, or that our readership is much more diverse. We’re also far from qualified political commentators (though we have recommendations if you want), but a United States Senate seat is highly impactful and will certainly draw a ton of attention over the course of the election cycle. The Bucks are going to be tied to the conversation (whether we like it or not) for as long as Lasry is in the running; we won’t know if he’ll actually be the candidate until after the Democratic primary.

Whether or not Lasry should be the candidate is a worthwhile question, and is the whole point of announcing his campaign. He will make his case to the voters of Wisconsin and try to convince them that he’s the one for the job to represent the state, and his role with the Milwaukee Bucks will absolutely be involved in some form. What form that takes is anyone’s guess, and could either be a boost or a hindrance depending on who you’re talking to.

As always, we expect everyone in the comments to follow the SB Nation Community Guidelines.