Miami Heat player and former UF basketball star Udonis Haslem is the latest in a group of prominent UF alumni and athletes, including football players Kyle Trask and Kyle Pitts, to endorse the Change Party presidential candidate Wynton White in UF’s Spring 2021 Student Government Election.
These former UF student athletes threw their weight behind Change's first executive ticket after the party was swept in the Fall. On the last day of slating, Change merged with fellow minority party the Union Party in order to bring change to the current SG system, Change Party President Zoe Terner said.
Haslem posted on his Instagram story Tuesday night encouraging Gator nation to mask up and vote for White, a former Gators football team manager. Polls opened Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. and will close Wednesday at 8:30 p.m..
In subsequent posts, the three-time NBA Champion shared the party’s platforms and included the slogan #WinWithWynt. Haslem averaged just shy of 14 points and seven rebounds at UF, leading the Gators to a National Championship appearance in 2000.
The prolific football tandem of Mackey award-winner Pitts and Heisman finalist Trask showed support for White Tuesday night as well. Both players reposted a picture White posted on his account with several members of the football team and the caption, “You either with us or against us.”
On its Instagram page, Change posted a collection of UF teams and players endorsing White, including members of Gators soccer team, men’s basketball players Ques Glover and Scottie Lewis, and track and field athlete Denzel Villaman.
However, Kansas City Chiefs punter and former UF football player Tommy Townsend showed his support for the Gator Party’s presidential candidate Cooper Brown. Townsend, who played in Super Bowl 55, commented “#CountOnCoop” with a sunglasses emoji under the Instagram post Brown made announcing his candidacy Jan. 27.
Contact Declan Walsh at dwalsh@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @declanaw.
