Twelve-time NBA All Star LeBron James has announced his candidate of choice in the upcoming 2016 election: Hillary Clinton.
In an op-ed in Business Insider, the basketball star writes that Clinton’s values match the ones that led him to found the Lebron James Family Foundation, the charity organization based in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.
He opens the piece noting how growing up poor in Akron led him to give back to the community once he achieved success as an athlete:
As a kid, I didn’t have much money. It was just my mom and me, and things were rough at times. But I had basketball. That gave me a family, a community, and an education. That’s more than a lot of children in Akron can say. There are a lot of people who want to tell kids who grew up like me and looked like me that they just don’t have anything to look forward to.
That’s dead wrong. And that’s why I came back to Cleveland to continue my second mission. I am determined to make sure my kids in Akron have what they need to become their best selves.
He then applauds Clinton’s commitment to education, writing:
Like my foundation, Hillary has always been a champion for children and their futures. For over 40 years, she’s been working to improve public schools, expand access to health care, support children’s hospitals, and so much more.
She wants to make sure kids have access to a good education, no matter what zip code they live in. She’ll rebuild schools that are falling apart and put more money into computer science. She’ll make sure teachers are paid what they deserve so they can give everything to their students.
She also has plans to make college a reality for more people in America, especially for those who can’t afford it. My kids in Akron are proof of the hope and motivation that come from knowing college can be in their future, no matter what obstacles they might be facing.
James’ endorsement could be significant, as Ohio remains a swing state in the US presidential elections. At present, polls suggest that Trump’s chances of winning the election far exceed Clinton’s: