Stephen A. Smith Says He'd Only Run for President If He Were to Ever Enter Politics

Stephen A. Smith revealed that he would consider getting into politics if he knew he had a surefire way of becoming president of the United States.

"I will never run for office unless it was the presidency of the United States, and I'd have to be thoroughly convinced that I'd have a legitimate shot to win," he told Jim Rome recently. "I'm certainly not saying that, Jim Rome, as if I'm qualified. I don't know enough to be the president of the United States. It's just that I think that a lot of people that have been in office haven't resembled individuals that know enough."

He continued, "But I'm a statesman at heart, and what I believe is yeah, I'm a black man. I'm a proud black man I obviously would look out for desolate and the disenfranchised, and I get that the impoverished in this country, but at the same time, I'm going to represent all America if I were to ever run for office."

Smith added that he won't be one of those politicians who "look at things monolithically," and instead will look at what he believes makes America "better" than the "current state of affairs" the country is in today. Smith made it clear that he's only interested in running for president and not serving as a congressman or senator while admitting that he doesn't see people voting for him anyway, so it's not something he actively thinks about.

In 2022, Smith revealed he was approached to run for Senate in Pennsylvania.

"One time I was approached by Gov. Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania — he wanted me to run for Senate," Smith said at the time. "He said, 'You should do it.' I said, 'I'm not a liberal; I'm not a conservative either.' He said, 'It don't matter with you, you're a voice that needs to be heard.' He told me this close to 10 years ago."