Alex Lasry, the son of Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, is a senior vice president with the team but took a leave of absence in February to concentrate on his bid for the Senate seat. The Democratic primary is in August 2022, just ahead of the November election. Economic growth and development in the state are at the heart of Lasry’s agenda. But the Bucks also inspired Lasry to run. Mainly involved on the the business side, he is a regular presence at home games and was instrumental in helping local residents find jobs constructing the new downtown arena Fiserv Forum.
Alex Lasry Rumors
Bucks players boycotted their Aug. 25 playoff game against Orlando and called on Wisconsin legislators to reconvene and “take up meaningful measures to address issues of police accountability, brutality and criminal justice reform,” the players said in a statement. “Players said, ‘This happened in our backyard and this needs to stop,'” Lasry said. “In that statement, one of the first times ever, a team directly called out the legislature and said, ‘Get back to work.’ That was an incredibly powerful moment. People will remember that from the bubble – a sports team leading on racial and social justice and for us, to be the first ownership group to march with their players and say, ‘We demand change and we demand justice,’ all of these experiences, it’s had an effect.”
Lasry and ownership have tried to connect with residents since they purchased the Bucks in 2014. He is pro-union, which should garner support in the state, and his campaign staff is unionized. The Bucks used 100% union workers to build the arena and 80% of the material sourced for the new arena came from Wisconsin, Lasry said. Fiserv Forum pays all employees at least a $15 minimum wage.
Alex Lasry, a 33-year-old Democrat who worked in the Obama White House, is running for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Republican Ron Johnson. But as the son of a billionaire and a former Goldman Sachs banker, he has drawn criticism from both sides. During a recent interview with The Washington Post, Lasry talked about his decision to seek office in the battleground state, why pro teams should not stick to sports and how the Bucks have navigated matters of racial equality in what has been called “the most segregated city in America.”
The NBA Finals ratings were down last year. Did having “Black Lives Matter” on the court impact the NBA’s business? Alex Lasry: I don’t think so. If you look across sports, this summer was just tough for ratings. I think baseball’s were down, football’s were down. I just think it was a tough, anomaly of a summer. What the league was actually able to do with putting “Black Lives Matter” on the court was something that was even more powerful. It in a way normalized a saying that shouldn’t have been controversial. You see a league putting “Black Lives Matter” on the court, that’s going to have a profound and a good effect on generations of people who are watching.
George Hill sparked the player walkout, and you two canvassed Milwaukee neighborhoods to urge residents to get out and vote in November. He was traded, though, and in January, he implied that he thought his activism led to the team’s decision to trade him. What’s your reaction to Hill’s comments? Alex Lasry: I don’t think that’s what he was referring to. I obviously don’t want to speak for George. George is a friend, and we couldn’t have been more proud of the moral voice and center he was for that team. Basketball is a tough business. George has been around for a while; everyone’s been in it. Trades happen, but George is someone that we love, still love. In a lot of ways, what he did was more important than what he did on the court.
When it comes to raising cash for an expensive U.S. Senate race, there’s nothing like professional and family ties. Just look no further than the first-quarter fundraising haul of $1.1 million by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alex Lasry, on leave from his executive job with the Milwaukee Bucks, the team co-owned by his hedge-fund billionaire father. The NBA and the Lasry family were very much part of the cash haul.
