Sean Hannity has been lighting a fire under conservative America for 25 years.
Two championship athletes just sat across from him and said three words that explain why.
What Jay Feely told Hannity to his face is the last thing the Fox News host expected.
How the Sean Hannity Podcast Launched Two Republican Congressional Campaigns
Nobody plans to recruit an NFL kicker and a World Series champion to run for Congress.
Sean Hannity did it anyway.
Former NFL kicker Jay Feely walked onto the Hang Out with Sean Hannity podcast last week, sat down across from the host, and said three words Hannity never expected to hear.
"It's your fault," Feely told Hannity.
He wasn't joking.
Feely explained that years of appearing on Hannity's Great American Panel segments – watching conservatives fight for the country on national television – ignited something he couldn't shake.
"I started going on your show doing the Great American Panel in New York, and that's really when I really started thinking about it," Feely said.
Sitting next to him was Mark Teixeira, the New York Yankees legend who slugged his way to a 2009 World Series ring and five Gold Gloves across 14 MLB seasons.
Teixeira's version was simpler – he watched the show and knew he had to get in the fight.
"And then we'd have a great steak," Teixeira added, laughing.
Both men are now running for Congress as Republicans – Feely in Arizona's 1st Congressional District and Teixeira in Texas' 21st Congressional District – with Donald Trump's endorsement on their résumés and the weight of the 2026 House majority riding on their districts.
Jay Feely and Mark Teixeira Carry Trump Endorsements Into the 2026 Midterms
The stakes are not theoretical.
Arizona's 1st Congressional District – covering Scottsdale, north Phoenix, and affluent suburbs northeast of the Valley – is one of the most closely watched races in the country.
Trump won the district by just three points in 2024.
Democrats have already named it a top target for flipping the House.
Feely beat that back. He locked up the Republican nomination in July with nearly 50% of the vote, turning away two primary challengers after Trump delivered his "complete and total endorsement" in the final stretch of the race.
In a video message days before the primary, Trump called Feely a "true America First conservative" and told Arizona Republicans to get out and vote. The National Republican Congressional Committee had already placed Feely in its MAGA Majority program, reserved for America First candidates in battleground districts.
He now faces Democrat Amish Shah, a physician and former state legislator, in a race that will decide whether that district stays red.
Teixeira is on equally solid ground in Texas. He cleared a crowded Republican primary in March with Trump's backing, raised nearly $4 million through mid-2026, and faces Democrat Kristin Hook in November in what is now an open seat following Congressman Chip Roy's exit.
Athletes Running for Congress: A Winning Tradition for Republicans
This is not the first time a champion athlete looked at Washington and decided to take a shot.
Jack Kemp won two AFL championships with the Buffalo Bills, earned seven Pro Bowl selections, and then spent 18 years in the House of Representatives before running as Bob Dole's Vice Presidential pick in 1996.
Jim Bunning threw a perfect game for the Detroit Tigers in 1964, entered politics not long after, and spent 24 years representing Kentucky in Congress and the Senate as one of its most reliably conservative members.
Steve Largent set NFL records as a Seattle Seahawks wide receiver and served eight years in the House from Oklahoma – inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame during his first term in Washington.
The pattern is real: athletes who built careers around winning don't stop competing when the crowd goes home.
Feely demonstrated it directly in the primary. When his opponents attacked his credentials, he answered with a question that landed without a response: "Who can call Trump and who can get him to answer?"
Nobody in the room had a better answer.
Teixeira framed his pitch the same way – the same competitive drive that earned him a World Series ring, now aimed at the America First agenda in a district that has never been more open or more critical.
Both men walked off championship fields and into something harder.
They just told Sean Hannity it was worth it.
Sources:
- Taylor Penley, "Former MLB and NFL stars Mark Teixeira and Jay Feely credit Sean Hannity for congressional runs," Fox News, August 27, 2026.
- Staff Report, "Ex-NFL star backed by Trump wins battleground state primary: 'True America First Conservative,'" Fox News, July 22, 2026.
- FEC.gov, Mark Teixeira for Congress Committee Financial Summary, 2025–2026.