Michelle Tafoya first put herself in front of millions of people as an NFL sideline reporter for multiple networks.
In recent years, she has aimed to gain a platform in a different way, through politics — with her largest pursuit as of yet being her chase to snag a U.S. Senate seat out of Minnesota.
As you’ll know, Election Day was Tuesday, which means the results are in.
By late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, Tafoya’s outcome was clear.
Did Michelle Tafoya Win?
No, Tafoya did not win election to the United States Senate out of Minnesota.
She was running as a Republican and faced off with the Democratic candidate Peggy Flanagan, who was the state’s lieutenant governor.
Tafoya came up around 300,000 votes shy of Flanagan.
This is how The Athletic summed up Tafoya’s race:
Republican Tafoya lost the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota to Democrat Peggy Flanagan, the state’s lieutenant governor. Tafoya was trailing by 10.5 percent, with Flanagan getting 1,500,379 votes to Tafoya’s 1,206,908 with 95 percent of the votes counted.
Tafoya’s long broadcasting career included runs at CBS, ABC and NBC, culminating with her as a sideline reporter for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” She left the network in 2022 to move into political commentary, launching a podcast and Substack. A first-time candidate, she billed herself as a moderate, balancing receiving Trump’s endorsement with not aligning herself too closely in a state that has voted Democrat in every presidential election since 1976.
Tafoya did have advertisements during televised NFL games this season as she tried to drum up the vote.
It’s not immediately clear what her next political plans might be after losing this race.
Michelle Tafoya NFL Career
Tafoya’s first gig in the NFL came in 1998 when she was moved into a role at CBS as an NFL sideline reporter.
She also worked that year as a host during late-night coverage of the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Tafoya moved to ABC/ESPN in 2000 and first worked on college football, the NBA and the WNBA. In 2004, she was moved up to be the lead sideline reporter for Monday Night Football, and for Super Bowl XL, she was a co-anchor on the sideline coverage.
Tafoya remained with Monday Night Football until she left in 2011 to join NBC and be the Sunday Night Football sideline reporter.
That’s the role Tafoya remained in until she left broadcasting. Her time concluded with Super Bowl LVI, the one in which the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals.
Michelle Tafoya Learns Election Results After NFL Sideline Reporter Career