CHANDLER, Ariz. — On Tuesday evening, Tyler Watson walked up to the Chandler intersection at Ocotillo and McQueen roads. He pulled a sign out of his truck and stuck it in the ground next to political signs of candidates vying for the votes of Arizonans.
"Tyler Watson is Crossing His Arms," the sign said.
Honest. Literal. And straight to the point. Qualities of any good political sign.
The only catch is Watson isn't a candidate and is not running for office.
“It's really, really fun," Watson said. “And that's exactly what I wanted was just to see my sign and have a laugh with people.”
In the middle of a contentious election season, Arizonans are bombarded with non-stop political ads on TV and signs at every intersection. That's what inspired Tyler Watson to lighten the mood.
The 25-year-old baseball player thought it would be funny if friends and family looked over and saw his familiar face amidst the serious signs.
“And I thought that since this is where I grew up that a lot of people would drive by and people who knew me would reach out to me and think it was funny," Watson explained. "But what happened was people thought it was so funny and I have a friend who suggested I put on TikTok and then TikTok is really where it blew up.”
Between Watson's social media and folks in the East Valley posting to Facebook, his political parody is resonating with hundreds of thousands of people.
“And other comments just saying that the signs are so bad and it's a breath of fresh air," Watson said.
It's become such a breath of fresh air that residents started reaching out to Watson asking for signs of their own to put in their front yards. So he started selling them and is donating all proceeds to St. Jude.
“I hope that the other politicians will actually maybe take note and maybe mix up their sign choice and mix up the strategy a little bit," Watson said.
Some say they actually want to write in Watson's name on the ballot even though he is not running for any political office.
While he's unsure if politics will ever be in his future, something is for certain. Watson has been able to deliver something to Arizona voters that are become rare during a contentious election - a smile.
“It just seems like everyone was kind of looking for something that was refreshing," Watson said. "Not so serious, just maybe a distraction.”
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