In 1990, in the midst of a heated—and racially charged—U.S. Senate race in North Carolina between Republican incumbent Jesse Helms and Democratic challenger Harvey Gantt, Chicago Bulls superstar guard Michael Jordan issued one of his most famous lines.
Jordan, who grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, and won a national championship in 1982 for the famed University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball program, was asked whether he would endorse Gantt. Jordan’s memorable response, which OutKick founder and syndicated radio host Clay Travis subsequently adopted for a book title, was: “Republicans buy sneakers too.” Jordan, in other words, refused to politicize his brand and thus risk sacrificing sales of his signature Air Jordan sneakers, which Nike had first unveiled six years earlier.
It was an admirable assertion of political neutrality—a refusal to bend…
