If you thought the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections were crazy, just wait until Stephen A. Smith runs for president in 2028.
That’s right. ESPN analyst, podcast host and debate master Stephen A. Smith is seriously considering a potential presidential run. For the longest time – and despite being courted by politicians to consider running – Smith has insisted that he enjoys the line of work he is in (yelling about sports) too much to give it up.
But things have apparently changed.
Polls have long shown that Stephen A. Smith could be competitive as Democratic presidential nominee. That being said, those numbers have never been enough to convince one of the faces of ESPN to leave his network job to pursue a career in politics. He’s been very outspoken about that, as rumors have tried to connect him with a potential presidential run.
Stephen A. has always denied that speculation… that is until he was asked about his political aspirations during a NAB Show in Las Vegas last month. It was there that he confirmed that he won’t rule out a presidential run in 2028, though he says it’ll be a decision that he makes in late 2026 or 2027.
The popular sports personality doubled down on those comments in a recent interview with Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union. Smith was once again asked if the rumors and speculation surrounding him running for president were true, and he explained his current thoughts on the matter like this:
“I’m not prepared, I’m not qualified, and I have no political history whatsoever. I’ve never been interested in politics a day in my life, so how did I come to this conclusion where I’ve left the door open? I’ll tell you how, elected officials have come up to me, folks in the street come up to me every single day.
Not only that, but my own pastor in Brooklyn, New York, told me to ‘show respect to people who love and support you to leaving the door open because you never know what God has planned for you or us as a nation in the years to come. Just leave the door open.’
Stephen A. went on to say that he knows he has a voice, and considering he has a loyal audience across his many commentary-based shows, he assumes that millions of people listen to what he says. He believes that could aid him in a run, but at the end of the day, Smith suggests he’s motivated to jump into politics because, in his opinion, politics couldn’t get any worse.
The First Take host noted that some politicians just consider their work “disagreeing with the other side,” which he finds deplorable (that’s a word he likes to use). Smith says as a moderate and a centrist, he thinks could change the way some things are done. And ultimately, Stephen A. believes he has what it takes to win:
“I believe that, if I did take this very, very seriously and I moved forward and I decided that I wanted to be a politician, do I believe I could win? You’re damn right. But it’s by default. It’s not because I’m the most qualified candidate in the world. It’s because the state of our politics.”
Pretty wild to think that the guy you used to watch/still watch on ESPN could potentially be the next president of the United States, right?
Donald Trump did kind of open the floodgates for non-politicians to run for president back in 2016, when he did so and won. So I guess Stephen A. Smith putting his name into the hat wouldn’t be all that surprising. I just can’t imagine the guy who I grew up watching on ESPN suddenly becoming the POTUS… but I guess Trump was pretty much the same kind of thing since I also used to watch The Apprentice.
I’m just a little bothered that Trump is currently serving his second term, which means that he wouldn’t be able to run against Stephen A. Smith. A in 2028 (though President Trump has alluded to figuring out a way to work around the 22nd Amendment limiting presidents to two terms). A televised debate between Trump and Smith could be the most watched TV event ever.
Now that I say that, I’m sure they could find a way to work something out…
