(PartiallyPolitics.com) – On Saturday, Minnesota Republicans chose Royce White, a former National Basketball Association player, to challenge Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat and the seat’s incumbent.
White won his endorsement with 67 percent of the vote during the GOP’s first ballot.
According to reporting by The Star Tribune, 33-year-old White, who had never held political office, credited former President Donald Trump’s long-time advisor Steve Bannon as being the push he needed to enter the race.
White recalled being introduced to the GOP’s convention in St. Paul’s River Center via a video conference.
White, who failed a prior attempt to get the GOP’s nomination to unseat incumbent Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), suggested that money is the scourge of politics and the country.
He decried the government as being “too big” and “mostly corrupt.”
The statement comes amid concerns that He lacks funding.
A federal campaign finance report filed on Thursday shows White’s campaign only had $10,000 in cash — something GOP officials in Minnesota had reservations about.
In his victory speech, White also discussed his debt, explaining he had “personal debt” and describing how he discovered the NBA didn’t have mental health coverage.
Before joining the GOP, White led Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in the state, following George Floyd’s death.
But that past hasn’t dampened sentiment toward him in the GOP. One delegate, Channing Stowell, described White as having a “Kennedy-esque charisma.”
Stowell also downplayed White’s involvement in the BLM movement, explaining that while there were riots, White “gathered pastors together” and led the march of “upset Black people to the Federal Reserve.”
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