Mark Teixeira, who is poised to win a House seat in Texas, is vying for a seat on the powerful House Financial Services Committee — leaning on his ties as an ex-Yankee and Texan.
His bid for the prime panel slot comes as Texas tries to rival New York as the country’s economic hub. Large financial institutions have either relocated or expanded their operational departments to the state. Texas’ comparatively inexpensive real estate and business-friendly regulations are big draws for companies as they lure employees.
To help his party in the midterms, Teixeira, 46, has crisscrossed the country with leadership, visiting swing districts in New York and New Jersey to campaign for Republican incumbents in tight races.
In August, he joined Speaker Mike Johnson to stump for Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey at the Hawk Pointe Golf Club for a breakfast fundraiser. That same month, he wolfed down pizza with the speaker and Rep. Mike Lawler at Silvio’s Pizzeria in Thornwood, New York. This week, Teixeira helped lead a trip with Republican Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota — and nearly a dozen Texas candidates — at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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“He’s doing all the right things,” said a Republican House member who sits on the Financial Services panel. “He is raising money for others, campaigning for others and he has a great financial background.”
Teixeira, who is running in Texas’ 21st Congressional District, told The Washington Sun he raised his hand to pitch in. “I have a very unique profile, obviously, with my baseball career, and I want to use that to help the team. It’s really that simple.”
He said after he won his primary in March, he reached out to the House GOP campaign arm and said: “‘Hey, listen, my number one priority is in my district and to spend as much time as possible talking with voters, talking with constituents. But in my free time, I’m willing to go travel and help out anybody that is going to be in a tight race.’”
Teixeira already has support for a committee slot from Rep. Pete Sessions, the incoming dean of the Texas delegation, who also serves on the panel. Teixeira also confirmed his interest in Financial Services in an interview with The Sun this week.
Sessions told The Sun about his likely future colleague, “I would just call it a well-heeled district that comes out of Austin, Texas, which is a very important economic driver for the state of Texas.” He added, “I had a direct conversation with him about how I felt like that would be a match for him — he and his district.”
Sessions said he personally introduced Teixeira to members of the committee and that the former major leaguer also has the support of Rep. Roger Williams, another senior Texan, and the rest of the delegation. “French Hill is very excited about it,” Sessions said of the current Financial Services chair.
As a baseball player, Teixeira spent significant time in Texas (where he started his 13-year career) and New York (where he ended it). A power-hitting first baseman, Teixeira debuted with the Rangers in 2003, then joined the Yankees in 2009, where he was named an All-Star that summer before helping them win the World Series that fall. For a stretch, he was one of the biggest names in the sport. And now, as he launches his political career in Texas, he counts Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, as friends, according to one lobbyist.
But even with that background and Republican colleagues pushing him for Financial Services, Teixeira’s chances could hinge, at least in part, on how many seats Republicans have after the November midterm elections.
“We have at least six openings. There are at least four sophomores or freshmen in waiting,” a Republican member on the committee told The Sun. “It isn’t out of the realm of the possibility, and if he promises to play baseball his chances improve,” referring to the GOP’s Congressional Baseball team.
Teixeira said he realizes he’s different from other incoming freshmen and that is why he’s made it a point to help his future classmates.
“Whether that’s because of a Yankees connection, a Braves connection, a Rangers connection, whatever it might be, you know, I have that national profile to be able to bring people that otherwise may not support Republican candidates, but are interested in Mark Teixeira coming to the district,” he said.
Financial Services is a prime committee but has not been a barrier for freshmen members. Throughout the last two cycles, Republicans have placed several new members on the committee, including Lawler and Reps. Monica De La Cruz of Texas and Mike Haridopolos of Florida.
Leadership will determine the number of committee slots between the two parties at the start of next Congress. The committee currently has 30 Republican seats versus 23 seats for Democrats. The prospect of Republicans losing seats could complicate Teixeira’s bid, but he comes in with quite the resume — especially as sports and politics are mixing as much as ever.
“I don’t want to be transactional, where the only time I’m talking with my colleagues is when I need something from them or I need them to support a bill that’s good for my district,” Teixeira said. “I want to have great relationships with all of my colleagues. What that turns into, we’ll see.”
Teixeira is not the only ex-athlete vying for a House seat this cycle. Former Jets kicker Jay Feely is running in Arizona, where his opponent, Democrat Amish Shah, was actually the Jets’ team doctor while Feely was on the team.
President Donald Trump made sports a key part of the America250 celebration this summer, including the UFC fight on the White House lawn, the Grand Prix on the National Mall and the Patriot Games. There was also political posturing around the World Cup, which the U.S. hosted along with Mexico and Canada. And on the Hill, the Senate recently passed a college sports bill that now faces an uncertain path in the House.
Some key debates impacting sports will continue after the midterms and into the next Congress. Once the MLB playoffs finish later this month the league is expected to deal with a major labor battle. With the current collective bargaining agreement expiring on Dec. 1, the expectation is that the owners will lock the players out amid long-simmering tension. A key part of negotiations will be whether the next CBA includes a salary cap, which the owners favor and the players do not.
It is unclear how or whether Washington will get involved in negotiations between the team owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association. Teixeira, though, could be an interesting figure on that front. In 2020, as the players and owners were at odds over money during the pandemic, Teixeira appeared on ESPN to urge the players to accept the deal in front of them. He said that he would usually encourage players to hold out for better terms. But in that case, he reasoned that playing hard ball, so to speak, could lose fans that might never come back.
That interview was well before he jumped into Republican politics — and, of course, before he was interested in joining the Financial Services committee. Trump has already endorsed MLB adding a salary cap in the next CBA, siding with the owners. In an uncapped system, Teixeira made more than $200 million in his career, including the eight-year, $180 million contract he signed with the Yankees in 2009. That was also the last time the team won the World Series.
And while that all adds to the buzz around Teixeira as an incoming member, future Republican colleagues may be even more interested in whether he’ll suit up for the Congressional Baseball Game next summer.
“You got to know, we think this is like drafting the first-round pick for the baseball team,” Sessions said. “He’s already signed. We’ve inked that deal. NIL, fortunately, was not a part of it.”
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