Ever since joining the Indiana Fever back in 2025, Sophie Cunningham has seen her star power surge as she has not been shy about embracing a sort of sidekick role to superstar Caitlin Clark. While she hasn’t usually used her platform to speak out on political issues, that has seemingly changed recently.
Less than a week after Cunningham spoke out against data centers in a post on social media, she is now speaking out about transgender women in women’s sports.
Cunningham Speaks Out Against Trans Athletes
During a recent interview with ESPN, Cunningham was asked about the “MAGA Barbie” nickname she has recently been given. While Cunningham says that label is a projection, given that she is a white girl from Missouri, she did go on to speak out on how to “protect women’s sports.”
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” she told ESPN. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
That said, Cunningham claims that her political views are “very much in the middle.”
“I’m very much in the middle. I agree with things on both sides, disagree with things on both sides. And that’s all I’ve ever said about my political beliefs. But people love to assume,” she says.
Cunningham to Politics?
While Cunningham is currently one of the most high-profile players in the WNBA, ESPN Page 2 writer Chuck Klosterman thinks that she has a future in politics.
“Sophie Cunningham … I’m going to say 2050, is going to be Vice President of the United States,” Klosterman said in an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast. “I don’t know what party she’ll be in, I don’t know anything about her political views. But she will be the vice presidential candidate, at least the candidate.”
“I don’t know what it is. It’s something about the fact that she wears those sleeves on the court, something about the way she triggers in-bound plays at the end of games, makes me think she will be someone’s ideal vice president. You know, she has a damn likable personality.”
For now, though, it’s clear that she is starting to use her platform to speak out on issues important to her.
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.