22 Famous Athletes You Didn’t Know Were Republicans

5. Charles Barkley

Basketball superstar turned broadcasting sensation Charles Barkley became an avowed Republican as a young player in the NBA. In typical Barkley fashion, Charles tells the story of informing his mother of his political leanings with raw hilarity. “Republicans are for rich people,” Charles’ mother said to him early in his professional career. “Mom,” Charles replied, “I’m rich.” While Barkley has become more of a moderate politically in the past decade or so, supporting President Barack Obama and a series of other Democratic candidates, Barkley remains a critic of both political parties, and our election system as a whole.