Tim Tebow says he’s not interested in running for office as he takes on human trafficking

Tim Tebow is best known as a Heisman Trophy winner, college football national champion and sports broadcaster.  

But in recent months, the athlete turned activist has spent time with lawmakers on Capitol Hill as he stares down what he says is the toughest opponent he’s ever taken on: Human trafficking and child exploitation in the U.S. and around the world. 

Tebow was a driving force behind a push by lawmakers to have more than $108 million added to the recent immigration enforcement reconciliation package signed into law by President Trump. The package allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to hire 200 new child exploitation investigators and analysts.  

The former NFL quarterback and public speaker is taking an increased role in spreading awareness about the dangers and prevalence of human trafficking and child exploitation, testifying in March before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism about the issue.  

“I hope that nobody would ever remember a game or sport that I ever played,” Tebow told The Hill during a recent interview. “I gave a lot of effort, energy and focus to a game, but I hope if there was any legacy that I would leave it would be in the lives that I got to care for and impact. My purpose is not for a game, but for the lives I get to serve.”  

Tebow, who has flirted with a career in politics in recent years and been a rumored as a speaker at previous Republican conventions, brushed aside questions inquiring about his interest in running for office. 

“That is not my goal,” he said. “The only reason we got involved in this is we realized to move the needle, we have to be able to appeal to the right people, and a lot of those people are in D.C.”  

Even before his most recent work in advocacy, Tebow has kept connections on the national political stage.   

He visited Trump last year in the Oval Office, and was photographed doing the “Gator Chomp” behind the Resolute Desk to support the University of Florida men’s basketball team in the NCAA Final Four.

He cited the work of both parties in securing the extra DHS funding, and argued while much of the country is deeply divided, he has been inspired to see Democrats and Republicans finding common ground in the fight to end child exploitation.  

The provision in the reconciliation package, introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), allows 40 forensic analysts and 30........

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