Stephen A. Smith might be coming to a ballot near you.
The sports media personality made a guest appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, where Smith said running for president is “possible” even though he “can’t imagine” running in the race.
“Life is good, man. I leave the door open,” Smith told Maher. “I can’t imagine myself doing it, but I haven’t ruled it out, because I’m disgusted with what I’m seeing on the left.”
The First Take host announced back in April that he was “officially leaving all doors open” for a potential 2028 run. “Time to stop messing around,” he wrote at the time. “Hate the thought of being a politician. But sick of this mess.”
He seemingly has changed his tune about his interest in running and what he thinks about politicians.
“I have no desire to do it,” said Smith to McVay Media President Mike McVay at NAB about running for potentially seeking the highest office in the country “I’m living a pretty good life right now. Life’s been good. The last thing that I would want to do is involve myself in politics. I’ve always perceived politicians as being professional beggars. I don’t say that derogatorily or anything like that. It’s just the reality. You’ve always got your hand out for something. People always need favors in return. I’m not that guy. So I could never see myself as a politician.”
Smith has been open about how the country is running right now with Donald Trump in office.
“Over the last few weeks, I’ve had no choice but to get more serious about it,” he shared. “I’ve been approached by people on Capitol Hill. I’ve been approached by people who are elected officials in office, whether it’s governors or mayors or what have you. People have legitimately, seriously, asked me about it. I have no desire to be a politician, but I’ve decided that I’m no longer going to close that door. I’m gonna keep my options open. I’m going to entertain the possibility. If it comes in late 2026, 2027, where I look at this country and think it’s an absolute mess and there’s legitimate reason to believe … that I indeed have a legitimate shot to win the presidency of the United States. I am not going to rule it out.”
The TV personality is a registered Independent but he shared his thoughts on how the Democratic Party does not have a unified voice.
“Even though there’s a lot of qualified Democrats all over the country from a local perspective—governors, mayors, stuff like that—there’s no real national voice,” he said. “They’ve come to me … and so, I mean, I did not ask for this. I don’t want this. I happen to have a very, very, very good life, very good job. I’m good, very good.”
However, 2028 is a long shot away and Smith has no plans to leave his current spot at ESPN as he just signed a $100 million contract with the network. He is now one of the highest paid sports broadcasters behind Charles Barkley at TNT with $21 million per year and the highest paid being seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady with 10 years at $210 million at Fox Sports.
