After Super Bowl victory, KC area lawmakers rush to honor the Chiefs in Congress
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley was the first Missouri lawmaker to spike the football Monday morning with a Senate resolution to honor the Kansas City Chiefs for their Super Bowl victory.
But Monday evening, the play was under review after Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt’s office released the text of another resolution in praise of the Chiefs, co-signed by Hawley and Kansas Republican Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran.
The two resolutions were strikingly similar, with identical lines celebrating Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s 222 career wins and quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ status as the youngest player in NFL history to earn both a league MVP Award and a Super Bowl title. The second resolution had more information about the history of the Chiefs and references to the wider region.
Hawley’s chief of staff Kyle Plotkin said in a phone call that the two resolutions are complimentary rather than competing. One is Hawley’s personal tribute to the team, while the other is a celebration by the whole region and the senator’s involvement in both led to similar lines.
“The more the better. Whatever we can do to honor the Chiefs,” Plotkin said in a text message after the conversation.
Blunt, who attended the game with his wife and 15-year-old son, said his family went from disappointment to jubilation as the Chiefs staged their comeback in the game’s fourth quarter to beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 Sunday night.
“We went from beginning to think, well, we’re going to have to get out of here before these San Francisco fans celebrate to ‘Oh my gosh!’” Blunt said Monday afternoon.
While the senator was eager to talk about the game, he didn’t respond to a question about Hawley’s resolution. Hours later, the second resolution, including the names of all four senators from the region, was released.
Both tout the Chiefs’ string of comeback victories during the postseason. The one from the full delegation notes that fans in both states are celebrating, a response to President Donald Trump’s initial tweet congratulating Kansas, which drew the ire from fans in Missouri, where the team is actually based.
“Whereas the victory of the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV instills an extraordinary sense of pride for fans in the States of Missouri and Kansas and across the Midwest,” the resolution states, “and Whereas people all over the world are asking, ‘How ‘bout those Chiefs?’
The two Senate resolutions won’t be the only legislation to honor the team after their second Super Bowl in franchise history and first in 50 years. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, will introduce his own resolution in the U.S. House Tuesday morning.
Cleaver, a former Kansas City mayor, had made bets with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Ro Khanna, two California Democrats, ahead of the game.
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 10:13 AM.
