For college football’s sprawling administrative apparatus—a little-c conservative group by nature—what happened Tuesday throughout the country was nothing short of a disaster.

In races from coast to coast, Democrats wiped out Republicans in the kind of victory not seen in the United States by either major party in decades. Beyond completely reordering the political climate of the country, the defeat will have significant effects for college sports. The coalition that pushed the Protect College Sports Act through the Senate will be replaced by a new group of lawmakers much more skeptical of its aims.

With the bill almost certainly on life support in a Congress teeming with lame ducks, here’s a look at what five key Democratic players have said about the idea of college sports regulation.

Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.—presumptive Speaker of the House)

Jeffries, who represents Brooklyn and serves as one of the Congressional Black Caucus’s most prominent voices, is a vocal opponent of the Protect College Sports Act.

“If the SEC schools are for it, we are against it,” Jeffries said on May 19. “These universities should feel compelled to speak up. Not because of their athletic programs, because it’s the right thing to do.”

The two primary, related critiques of the PCSA are that a) it could act to suppress the earnings of college basketball and football’s largely Black labor forces, and b) that it creates an antitrust exemption for college sports. If Congress conjures new college-sports legislation in the near future, expect it to at least try to square those two circles in a way the PCSA didn’t.

Cory Booker (D., N.J.)

One of a handful of politicians with College Football Reference pages, Booker—a former Stanford tight end who in 2021 co-sponsored a college athlete bill of rights—has also been a vocal critic of the PCSA.

“At its core, it's a bill that undermines the rights of young people who pour their blood, sweat, tears, countless hours of work, and more into their craft,” he said on Sept. 28.

Shortly before the Senate voted to send the bill to the House of Representatives, Booker (along with Connecticut’s Chris Murphy) added an amendment to the PCSA designed to cap coaching salaries. The amendment did not fail by much—52–47—and may have passed had Democrats held a few more seats at the time.

Jon Ossoff (D., Ga.)

All eyes will be on Ossoff for the next two years; he won his election Tuesday handily and has been bandied about as a potential 2028 presidential contender. Breaking with fellow Georgian senator Raphael Warnock, Ossoff voted for the Protect College Sports Act—one of 26 Democrats to do so.

The question becomes whether Ossoff will vote similarly in a changed Congress. With the bill’s public face (Republican Texas senator Ted Cruz) sidelined, will Democrats feel emboldened to tear up the PCSA and start anew? Expect Georgia, a state with a large economic stake in college sports, to watch closely.

Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.—presumptive Senate majority leader)

Schumer has made little public noise on the PCSA. On Sept. 9, an aide told Kelsey Brugger and Calen Razor of Politico that the soon-to-be majority leader “knows Congress should act to bring clarity and certainty” to college-sports regulation at large.

Ultimately, he voted against the bill, joining the Congressional Black Caucus in opposing the measure. Regardless of which politician conjures into existence the PCSA’s sequel, Schumer will have a starring role in mustering Democratic support.

The newcomers

The bulk of the Democratic freshman class has yet to develop public positions on college-sports regulation, with two notable exceptions. Senator-elect Josh Turek (D., Iowa)—a two-time Paralymic gold medalist—is an avowed PCSA supporter. Specifically, he told reporters in Des Moines in September that “NIL has really decimated college sports,” a semi-conservative position on the issue that marks his point of view as one to watch in the new Congress.

Senator-elect Roy Cooper (D., N.C.), on the other hand, was on the front lines of enacting NIL legislation as the governor of that state. In 2021, he signed an executive order allowing athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness just a day after the NCAA legalized the practice. He later rescinded that executive order, deeming it unnecessary in the wake of evolving case law.

The names to watch on this front are senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D., Mich.), a high school football player and wrestler and college club lacrosse player at the University of Michigan, and senator-elect James Talarico (D., Texas). Each represents a state where college sports is paramount, giving them the ability to deliver a concrete legislative win to their constituents if they play their cards wisely.

PODCAST: Listen to Sports Illustrated’s college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, hosted by Pat Forde, on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s college YouTube channel or on SI TV.