50 Democratic senators signed a letter to the NFL’s Roger Goodell “urging” the commissioner to “formally support” a new name for Washington’s football team, whose current nickname the letter describes as a racial slur. One of them is majority leader Harry Reid, the New York Times writes, who was surprisingly open about playing political hardball:
Reid has made the push for the name change a top interest. He said in an interview that he could not understand the league’s resisting the senators on the name change given other pressing disputes it was navigating, including head injuries and the health of former players.
The five Democratic senators who didn’t sign the bill were Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
