EDINA, Minn. – Minneapolis-based sportscaster Michele Tafoya announced she will co-chair the gubernatorial campaign of Kendall Qualls. Her final sports stint was Sunday as a Los Angeles anchor for NBC. “I got to a point in my life where I wanted to try other things, and there are some things that are really important to me,” Tafoya said. Tafoya, who is 57, self-describes herself as “a small government, pro-choice conservative with libertarian leanings.” As a sportscaster, Tafoya said, she was “not as free to be as vocal about world events that I’m concerned about.” She is a scheduled speaker at the conservative CPAC convention in Orlando this month. Other speakers include former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Fox News host Sean Hannity. Her career since graduating from California-Berkeley has included time at ABC CBS and ESPN and in Minneapolis at WCCO, KFAN and KQRS. She also holds a master’s in business or Southern California. Tafoya, who has suffered a a life-long eating disorder, also has done commercials for locally franchised weight-loss clinics.
Tafoya. Holds five Emmys for broadcast sports reporting.
Her Kaepernick moment
On the CBS talk show “The View,” Tafoya challenged a comment that likened NFL draft training camps to slave trade by white club owners. She countered that NFL players choose their own routes to football careers. “No one pressures them,” she said. “They’re not forced to go into the NFL.” Tafoya, who is white, had no sympathy for Kaepernick, a black player, who had been ousted from the NFL after taking the knee during the national anthem as a gesture against social injustice.
Her Gopher moment
In a heated off-screen moment as a fan, Tafoya dumped beer on fans below her box at a University of Minnesota Gophers game. This was after police were called to quell rowdiness in the box where she and friends were rooting with excessive enthusiasm. It was the fans below who called the cops. “I lost my composure,” he later apologized. “I am so regretful.