Government officials and candidates who played in the Super Bowl

This page was last updated on February 3, 2021. We encourage you to share updates for this page at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Ballotpedia has identified 14 people who played in at least one Super Bowl before running for elected office or serving in government.

Of those 14, Lynn Swann of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Alan Page of the Minnesota Vikings made the most Super Bowl appearances with four each. Swann ran for governor of Pennsylvania in 2006 and Page was elected to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1992, where he served until reaching the court's mandatory retirement age in 2015.

These NFL players-turned-politicians ran for office in 11 different states—Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Washington. Eight of the politicians that played in the Super Bowl ran as Republicans, and two ran as Democrats. Four served in positions that were officially nonpartisan.

Ten of these 14 Super Bowl players won their bids for political office. Three were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, one to a state Senate district, one to a state supreme court, one to a local court, one to a county council, one to a county commission, one to a city council, and one to a local executive position. The full list is presented in the chart below.