WNBA Star Caitlin Clark Ignored by Peers Despite Record-Breaking Season as Minnesota Governor Faces Backlash Over Pardon of Child Predator

Michele Tafoya, the Republican candidate for Minnesota’s open U.S. Senate seat and a longtime NFL sideline reporter, stated Friday that Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is caught in “a pattern” of exclusion by her WNBA peers despite achieving career highs this season.

Tafoya detailed how Clark was left off the 2024 U.S. Olympic basketball team and the WNBA’s 30th-anniversary poster, even though she has driven up television ratings, increased attendance, and boosted paychecks for players. “She was left off the [2024] U.S. Olympic basketball team. She was left off the 30th anniversary poster of the WNBA, even though it is really attributable to her that their television ratings are up, that their crowds are bigger, that the paychecks are higher for all these players,” Tafoya said.

The exclusion has been linked by some reports to a licensing restriction on Clark’s image rather than deliberate omission. Clark finished second in this year’s fan vote and third among media, with her scoring and field goal percentage both reaching career highs according to WNBA voting data released Thursday.

“A year after her fellow players ranked her ninth among guards in All-Star voting, she is now ranked 11th among her peers,” Tafoya said. “That, if nothing else, shows you how ridiculous this all is.”

Tafoya compared Clark’s situation to Tiger Woods’ early days on the PGA Tour when rivals would remark, “Who is this young guy who’s stealing all the attention?” She described the dynamic as “the politics of envy,” noting that Clark’s fame and endorsements—including a State Farm deal—have not earned her peers’ appreciation. “They hate her for it,” Tafoya added.

When asked about recent events in Minnesota, Tafoya criticized Governor Tim Walz’s decision to pardon Tou Lue Vang, 42, a Laotian national convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly assaulting a 10-year-old girl. The Minnesota Board of Pardons, composed of Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, unanimously granted the pardon on June 10—a week before Vang’s scheduled deportation—following recommendations from the state’s Clemency Review Commission.

“What Tim Walz did and participating in that pardon is obscene,” Tafoya said. “He raped a 10-year-old girl repeatedly. This child’s innocence was lost.”

The pardon removed the conviction that would have made Vang eligible for removal, but Walz’s office cited a letter from the victim expressing forgiveness as significant to the decision. Ellison’s office disputes U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ assertion that the pardon guarantees Vang will avoid deportation.

“You don’t pardon. You deport,” Tafoya stated, calling for accountability for the victim. As of Friday, federal officials had not confirmed whether they would pursue further action to remove Vang from the country.