Jets owner Woody Johnson has been one of the top sports owners to donate money for political purposes.
According to USA TODAY, Johnson has donated $1.99 million to Republican campaigns during the 2019-2020 election cycle. He ranks second among sports owners who have donated the most money to political campaigns and leads all NFL owners in that span. Johnson’s donations have been spread out over three donations of at least $360,000. Only San Francisco Giants owner Charles B. Johnson has donated more money among sports owners in that span at about $3.25 million.
The Jets’ Johnson, a Republican, has been an ambassador to the United Kingdom since President Donald Trump took office in 2017. Johnson’s brother, Christopher, has been running the team’s day to day operations ever since.
If Trump loses this year’s election, Johnson could come back and run the Jets. It is also possible that Johnson, 73, would not remain in his ambassadorial role if Trump were to be re-elected. Neither he nor Christopher has provided much clarity on the plan for the team moving forward.
Johnson made headlines earlier this summer for allegedly making inappropriate comments about women and Black people, in addition to accusations of corruption, while serving as ambassador. The State Department inspector general investigated Johnson for his remarks and found that Johnson did make “inappropriate or insensitive comments.”
Johnson denied all of the allegations against him and received full support from his brother.