Congress may be throwing elbows on Capitol Hill … but once the suits come off, some lawmakers are apparently more focused on jump shots than cheap shots!
Our TMZ DC crew caught up with Rep. Shomari Figures and a few other congressmen, including Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick, in the aftermath of the Congressional Basketball Game Tuesday night … where Democrats and Republicans hit the court together in a rare display of bipartisan teamwork.
Check out the clip … Figures tells us the game came down to the wire and he gave props to fellow Representatives Suhas Subramanyam and Blake Moore for balling out.
But when we asked what it’s like sharing the court with members of the opposing party amid all the political chaos in D.C. … the Alabama Democrat pushed back on the idea that lawmakers are constantly at each other’s throats.
He says people assume there’s nonstop animosity between Democrats and Republicans — but the Rep. believes while they disagree on major issues, sports can help bridge those divides.
“Sports is one way to do that in America, you know, sports is one of the more unifying things that you have in this country,” he told our guy Charlie (who referred to basketball uniforms as singlets … hey, he’s Australian).
And when we asked who the best athlete in Congress is pound-for-pound? Figures gave Utah Rep. Blake Moore some love … before hilariously puffing his chest out and saying it’s really a 6-foot-3, 215-pound guy from Mobile named — you guessed it! — Shomari Figures. Go figure.
He says he plays in basically every Congressional sport … basketball, baseball, soccer — well, everything except hockey, because growing up in Alabama didn’t exactly prepare him for life on the ice.
Turns out bipartisan unity may be hanging on by a thread in Washington … but at least lawmakers can still agree on buckets!