“Turning 21 is fun, turning 22 is fine, and then you end up at 25,” Bill Cotter ’21 reflected in an interview with the Record. Cotter — better known online as Barstool Sports’ “Billy Football” — saw his 25th birthday less as a tempus fugit reality and more of an opportunity: Having just hit the age threshold to be elected to Congress, Cotter saw himself as a fresh face to represent New York’s 3rd district in the House of Representatives.
“I want to be an actual person who cares,” he said of his drive to pursue a congressional bid. “As we’ve been seeing, a lot of politicians do not have their constituents in their best interests.”
As he himself admits, Cotter is running as a political outsider — someone with no experience holding political office or working in government. But to Cotter, his youth and lack of political background make him precisely the elected official he thinks the country lacks. “Why can’t a regular person run for Congress and get elected and actually serve the needs of the people?” he asked.
In NY-3, however, outsiders have proved a tricky subject. Following former Congressman George Santos’ expulsion from the House last year and a special election in February to fill his seat, Tom Suozzi — the incumbent who did not seek re-election for the NY-3 seat in 2022, paving the way for Santos’ rise — has returned to Washington.
When asked about the impact of both Santos’ and Suozzi’s legacies on his bid, Cotter denounced both. “George Santos was a certified fraud, [and] Tom Suozzi has violated the STOCK act several times,” he said, referring to allegations that caused a 2022 ethics probe into Suozzi’s disclosure of personal finances. Suozzi was not charged under the decision that his failure to report was neither “knowing nor willful.”
Cotter is running as a Republican challenger to Suozzi and, despite a late campaign kickoff, has gained ground in the two weeks since. After back-to-back appearances on Fox News and Newsmax, Cotter received the requisite 2,500 signatures to be on the ballot for the Republican primary.
Beyond Cotter’s political identity, there’s a lot of ground to cover when profiling the College and professional career of “Billy Football.” During his time on campus, Cotter studied political economy and played as a quarterback for the football team. After graduation, he went to work at Barstool Sports — a blog and digital media company that covers sports and pop culture — where he had held an internship the summer before his first semester at the College.
Cotter remembered his time at the College fondly and pointed to his experience as part of the groundwork for his congressional bid. “The true inspiration for running was one of my professors sophomore year, Chris Gibson,” Cotter said. “He really inspired me, and I never would have been able to meet him or learn under his instruction in a seminar if I hadn’t gone to Williams.” Gibson, a former congressman himself, was a visiting professor of political science at the College between 2017 and 2020. In 2020, he was elected president of his alma mater, Siena College.
Cotter also noted an appreciation for his major. “The political economy major at Williams is 100 percent the reason why I’m here and the reason I even thought I had a chance,” he said. “It prepared me for a lot of the complex nuances of running for office.” Cotter also thanked Visiting Professor of Economics Neal Rappaport, who worked at the College during Cotter’s time and has since returned for another few years in Williamstown.
“I think it’s good when Williams students … get involved because they bring ideas [and] solutions,” Rappaport said of young alums seeking office. “Williams provides the opportunity for people to be exposed to the benefits of many different things, including public service.”
Beyond the classroom, Cotter said he had plenty of opportunities to talk politics with his classmates.
“I remember there was a kid on the football team my freshman year who was a devout communist and would read Lenin and Marx to the team, and guys would have debates,” Cotter said. “The locker room sometimes became the town square of voicing opinions.”
He noted that — though they “tended not to be the loudest voice in the room” — he found a substantial group of conservatives at the College. “I got along with everyone I met at Williams, I’d like to think,” he said.
For Cotter, the close relationship between football and personal beliefs has continued beyond graduation. In his most recent project with Barstool, Cotter — accompanied by content creator “The Wonton Don” — traveled to Uganda and Kenya to serve as a player-coach for the Ugandan National American Football Team as they try to beat local rivals Kenya. The series, called “Last Chance Uganda,” is being uploaded in episodes to “The Wonton Don’s” YouTube channel. In it, Cotter is an enthusiastic, always-sunburnt, and often exasperated playbook writer, offensive and defensive coordinator, and general motivator all rolled into one.
Cotter said his time coaching in Uganda influenced his decision to run. “It made me realize how much I love helping others,” he said. “There was a need for me there to help coach the team, to help Uganda finally beat Kenya, and helping fill that need was really rewarding and honestly made me start looking for a higher purpose.”
A previous version of this article stated that George Santos ousted incumbent Tom Suozzi for the NY-3 seat in 2022. Suozzi did not seek re-election in 2022; rather, Santos beat Robert Zimmerman in the 2022 election. The article was updated on April 14 at 4:25 p.m. to correct this error.
