In his memoir "The Perilous Fight," Colin Kaepernick calls his 2016 decision not to vote "irresponsible" and says he now supports New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Kaepernick said the 2016 election showed him the cost of abstaining, pointing to the impact on the Supreme Court and federal judges as proof that not voting carries major consequences.
After refusing to back either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in 2016, he said he later voted for Democrats Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.
Mamdani, 34, is the current politician Kaepernick finds most inspiring; he praised the socialist mayor for prioritizing people's needs and said that style could draw disillusioned voters back into politics.