Barstool Sports’ ‘Billy Football,’ 25, on Why He’s Running for Congress to Replace ‘Embarrassing’ George Santos and Stand Up for Gen Z Americans Robbed During COVID

Being a 6-foot-4 All-State football star with a huge online personality may not help a candidate get elected to Congress, but it doesn’t hurt either.

Nevertheless, Bill Cotter, 25, perhaps better known online as Barstool Sport’s “Billy Football,” announced on March 25 that he is running as a Republican for New York’s Third Congressional District.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, he opened up about why he’s throwing his hat into the race and how he plans to compete in a district marred by controversy in recent years.

The seat he is running for was held by notorious serial liar, former Rep. George Santos, until December, when he was just the sixth House member voted out of Congress.

After a snap special election, Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi won the seat, someone who — at least according to Cotter — is motivated more by money than political duty.

In his interview, Cotter didn’t hold back, criticizing several New York lawmakers for behavior he could only describe as “sickening.”

“Honestly, if you want to know why I ran for Congress, it’s because Congress is filled with people like Tom Suozzi and George Santos and, you know, individuals who are pulling fire alarms to stop the votes,” he told DailyMail.com exclusively. . “It’s sickening.”

“Santos is not relevant to this race,” Cotter continued. “He has, quite frankly, embarrassed the party and America as a whole.”

He then quickly turned his attention back to the Democrat, saying, “It’s hard to have confidence in your government when there are individuals like Tom Suozzi who are violating the STOCK Act and using his seat to make profits and line his own pockets.” .’

“Indeed, Suozzi has violated Congress’s stock trading law several times by saying in 2022, ‘I have a lot of other things to do’ and some of the congressional formalities are not necessarily something I make a priority.”

As for the fire alarm, that was an apparent prank by Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., who was criminally charged after sounding the alarm minutes before a critical vote in September.

“We need to get back to an America that people can be proud of and have confidence in, because it’s ridiculous what’s happening.”

‘We have to change something. We need people to take action. And that’s why I’m running for Congress.”

Cotter, who is still employed by media outlet Barstool Sports, said he was grateful to receive his bosses’ blessings to run a campaign.

And as a voice influencing many young Gen-Z Americans, he believes it is his duty to represent them — along with the residents of New York’s Third Congressional District — at the federal level.

“I have the luxury of still being able to do my job and run for office, and I thought it would be selfish of me not to take the opportunity and take that next step.”

Young Americans forced into adulthood after the COVID-19 pandemic “got a bad deal,” he said.

“So many American moments for young people growing up: high school students missing a big part of their lives, college students being sent home and missing a big part of their lives in college.”

“We were sent into a post-pandemic world where the job market was terrible, inflation was literally robbing us of our savings and the cost of living was so high that we have no extra income to save,” he told DailyMail.com.

The obvious destination-style American dream, full of neighborly homeownership, fulfilling community involvement and a unified patriotic spirit of the times, seems to have slipped – at least temporarily – beyond the reach of young voters.

He recalled how when he was his age, his grandparents were married with several children and a house, something he said seems more like a fantasy these days.

Securing that dream for Americans is tough work, he admitted.

And, he added, “running for office, that sucks.”

‘It’s a lot of extra work. You’re grinding, trying to get signatures. I don’t have huge support from the establishment. I don’t have, you know, huge donors to help me fund an established institution.”

“I’m there, myself and my team, and we’re trying to make this happen. And it’s hard.’

“I didn’t have to do this, but I do it because I have to.”

He has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and has posted regular updates on his campaign, including photos of him collecting signatures in front of local supermarkets and shopping centers.

And the work seems to be paying off.

As of Friday, Cotter’s campaign told DailyMail.com, “Cotter is on the ballot.”

“We have received confirmation that the State Board of Elections has received more than enough signatures to qualify Bill Cotter for the ballot,” a campaign spokesperson said in a statement.

When asked which politicians inspired him, he gave the answer of a politician, choosing historically popular ones Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.

When pressed on his Democratic role model, Cotter fired back.

“JFK was a Democrat, but you know, today I don’t think he would even get elected in a Democratic primary.”

Despite his affinity with Kennedy, the two have many differences.

The Republican candidate’s top political priorities are largely in line with those of the Republican Party.

The former football star said he is most concerned with tackling inflation, crime, the national debt and improving border security.

‘First of all, we must curb inflation as much as possible. And that means making sure the Fed doesn’t print money to pay off our debts.”

“The federal government does not have a revenue problem. They make enough money to run the country. They have an overspending problem. So I wouldn’t vote on bills that spend too much.’

He said there is “a serious problem at the border” and that he will work to strengthen states’ rights on immigration and “ensure that we have states that are not aiding and abetting individuals” who are illegally enter the US.

“New York State is one of the most culpable states in terms of aiding and abetting, you know, we give taxpayer money on credit cards to undocumented individuals, and we give more benefits to undocumented individuals than we do to our own veterans, to our homeless people and to our own American citizens.”

Cotter summarized his political views and kept coming back to the refrain that Americans have been lacking in representation lately.

“We got a bad deal,” he said again. “And we have to do something about it.”

However, whether he is the candidate to negotiate a better deal depends on New York voters.