The Left spent all season trying to cancel Sophie Cunningham for saying girls deserve their own locker rooms.
It didn't work.
And Byron Donalds had three words of advice for Sophie Cunningham that sent WNBA officials into a fit of rage.
From the WNBA Firestorm to Homestead-Miami Speedway
Back in July, Sophie Cunningham said something so ordinary it shouldn't have made news.
"I want to protect young girls in a locker room," she told ESPN.
The backlash was instant.
Protests followed the Indiana Fever to three consecutive road games.
The WNBA – the most progressive league in professional sports – made clear that players who shared Cunningham's views were not welcome to voice them.
https://twitter.com/Daily_MailUS/status/2119816751257178594?a=yOSa2N0DaPs96KC3VIs&s=20
Cunningham said it anyway.
"I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I'm like, 'I never once said that,'" she told ESPN.
She wasn't backing down.
The White House backed her.
Karoline Leavitt called it "ludicrous" that anyone could support men playing in women's sports.
Riley Gaines said Cunningham was the first active professional female athlete in a major league to say it plainly – and praised the courage it took to do so.
Ted Cruz praised her. Martina Navratilova praised her.
Conservative fans flooded her social media.
Now she's the grand marshal of the NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, standing next to country star Cole Swindell telling a packed grandstand to start their engines.
That's what happens when you tell the truth.
Byron Donalds Sends a Message the WNBA Didn't Want to Hear
Byron Donalds became Florida's first Black governor on November 3, winning with Trump's full backing – and five days later he was at Homestead.
He didn't have to say a word about Sophie Cunningham.
He chose to.
"Keep speaking up, Sophie. The truth ALWAYS wins in the end," Donalds posted on Instagram alongside their photo together.
His wife Erika reposted it and tagged Cunningham directly.
https://twitter.com/ByronDonalds/status/2119518818901106856?a=R49jaLhNks0cFKZrlRg&s=20
The incoming governor of the third-largest state in America – a man who just won a mandate running on DeSantis-style conservatism – used his first week in the national spotlight to publicly back a WNBA player for saying biological men don't belong in women's sports.
That's not a photo op.
That's a signal.
Donalds spent his career in Congress fighting the left's agenda at every turn.
Florida elected him specifically to continue DeSantis' record of standing up to woke ideology – the same ideology that spent months trying to destroy Sophie Cunningham's reputation for saying something every parent in America already knows.
And Cunningham?
She showed up at a NASCAR championship in South Florida and delivered the start command alongside a country music star – her third NASCAR appearance of 2026.
She gained more Instagram followers than any NBA or WNBA player this past season.
She has her own player-exclusive shoe deal.
She's a free agent this offseason.
The Left tried to make an example of her.
They made her a star instead.
Here's what the WNBA still hasn't figured out.
When a player who averages 7.9 points off the bench becomes the most culturally significant athlete in her league – not Caitlin Clark, not A'Ja Wilson – it's because she said the thing the other athletes wouldn't.
https://twitter.com/Luna_4w/status/2120459015629197702?a=x2ZmQmyAR13ELuFwtoY&s=20
Almost every elite female athlete in America could have said men shouldn't compete against women.
Almost none of them did.
Cunningham did – paid for it in death threats and protest rallies – and earned the respect of millions of Americans who already knew she was right.
Byron Donalds just told her – and every woman afraid to speak – that the people in power are watching, and they're on her side.
That message will travel a lot further than one Instagram post.
Sources:
- Rusty Weiss, "Keep Speaking Up, Sophie: Byron Donalds Backs Cunningham After NASCAR Encounter," Sportsnaut, November 10, 2026.
- Jackson Thompson, "Sophie Cunningham Sparks Social Media Meltdown by Speaking Out to Protect Women's Sports," Fox News, July 22, 2026.
- Ryan Morik, "Women's Advocacy Leader Asks 'Why Have a WNBA If We're Going to Allow Guys In,'" Fox News, August 6, 2026.
- Jon Root, "These Female Athletes Need to Speak Up About Keeping Women's Sports for Women, Like Sophie Cunningham Did," Fox News, July 25, 2026.
- "Sophie Cunningham Sees Support Surge After Star Puts Career on Line for Girls' Sports," Fox News, 2026.
- "Trump-Backed Byron Donalds to Make History as Florida's First Black Governor," Fox News, November 3, 2026.
- "Sophie Cunningham Goes Viral Over What She Did Alongside Cole Swindell at NASCAR's Homestead-Miami Speedway," Essentially Sports, November 2026.
