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With the 2024 Olympics officially kicking off Friday, politicos from Washington, D.C., and campaigners from around the country are starting to look for ways to stretch their own political muscles.
First lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are leading presidential delegations that will appear at the opening and closing ceremonies, respectively.
The first lady’s delegation includes:
- U.S. Ambassador to France Denise Campbell Bauer
- Delaware Sen. Chris Coons
- California Sen. Alex Padilla
- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (where the 2028 Olympics are scheduled to be held)
- Casey Wasserman, chairperson of the 2028 Olympics and Paralympic Games
- Three-time Olympic figure skater Brian Boitano
- Three-time Olympic gold medalist and University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley.
The second gentleman’s delegation to the closing ceremony includes Campbell Bauer; Sen. Laphonza Butler and Rep. Robert Garcia, both of California; four-time track Olympian Chaunte Lowe; and two-time gold medal soccer player Briana Scurry.
The first lady touched down Thursday in Paris where she delivered a speech and met with U.S. athletes and their families (you can watch her speech here, and you can check out some of her interactions with Olympic athletes themselves here, including a little relay practice with women from the U.S. track team).
U.S. political campaigns are also riffing on Olympic themes in a slate of new ads. The Senate Majority PAC, an organization vying to help Democrats keep their Senate majority, uses various events to poke fun at Republican Senate candidates and highlight what a group spokesperson Hannah Menchoff characterized as "out of touch" and "extremist" policies. In an ad against Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, for example, announcers characterize Lake as a gymnast who's vaulted to the political fringe while taking dangerous positions. And the group's ad against Wisconsin Senate candidate Eric Hovde depicts him as a champion beach volleyball player who practices at his mansion in Laguna Beach — a reference to Hovde’s recent residency in California, which has become a campaign issue.
And Ohio Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes debuted an Olympics-themed ad of her own Friday that features Sykes, a former state champion gymnast who participated in the Junior Olympics, flipping off of a balance beam.
The massive platform that is the Olympics and the attention that it generates are already providing a rich opportunity for political power players to promote causes and people they support. Let the games begin.