Stephen A. Smith said he is seriously considering a run for president in 2028, explaining in an exclusive clip obtained by theGrio from a sit-down interview with “ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis” that it would be his “pleasure” to debate the political establishment.
“I’m considering it in all seriousness, because I’ve had very, very serious people approach me about it,” said Smith, a longtime ESPN sportscaster, who has emerged as a controversial political pundit.
While Smith said he loves his day job and has “no desire to be a politician,” he explained to Davis that “with tremendous power comes tremendous responsibility.”
He continued, “And if you’re talking to me about the possibility of me being the President of the United States, where people are walking up to me saying, ‘Excuse me, we think is a legitimate shot that you have to win with the nonsense that I see taking place on Capitol Hill.'”
Smith added, “I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t consider it, especially when my own pastor called me and said, ‘Don’t close the door on this…you never know what God has in store for you.”
Any 2028 presidential campaign filing would not happen until 2027 at the earliest, which Smith noted is a “very long time away.” However, Smith isn’t “ruling anything out.”
The registered Independent said that, if he does decide to jump into the next presidential race, he looks forward to debating the political establishment.
“I’m dead serious about wanting to go up against those politicians, not be a politician, but wanting to go up against them on a debate stage to call out what they have done to our country, to harm us,” he explained. “It would be my pleasure.”
During Smith’s extensive interview with “ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis,” he also pushed back against the some of the criticisms he faced for comments he made about prominent Black women in politics, most notably U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Though he personally apologized to Crockett for potentially “assisting in any way” to the political environment in which President Donald Trump has consistently called the congresswoman “low IQ,” Smith said he stands by his critique that Crockett’s name calling of Trump did not benefit her constituents.
However, Smith called out journalist and former MSNBC host Joy Reid, who joined a chorus of critics, particularly Black women, for his commentary against Crockett and other Black women in politics like former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I don’t know this woman. I’ve met her one time. I shook her hand once. I’ve never spoken her in my life, and she’s responding that way, because when she got fired by MSNBC, her show got canceled, I spoke on it,” explained the TV anchor. “What I said was, she is a talent, highly intelligent woman. I respect her. The issue, however, is that if your numbers drop 47% and you are Black in this culture that we’re living in, did you really expect something else to happen? Of course, they were going to do that to you.”
He added, “I’m looking at it. I’m saying, OK, I get what you’re saying, and you might be right, but the manner in which you’re going about it that ain’t gonna serve you well long term.”
