Stephen A. Smith: ‘I’d probably be a better candidate than most Democrats’

Stephen A. Smith might not want to be president of the United States, but he still can’t help from thinking it’s what the people want.

Smith made another visit to ABC’s The View this week. And during the appearance, Smith was asked why his name gets thrown around as a possible candidate for president despite previously saying “hell no” to the idea of actually running. For Smith, the answer is simple. He’s just that good.

.@stephenasmith says he’d “probably be a better [presidential] candidate than most Democrats,” despite saying he’s not interested. pic.twitter.com/TQOAlwBTfT

— The View (@TheView) December 4, 2025

“I think that I’d probably be a better candidate than most Democrats. I wouldn’t say that about Wes Moore, I wouldn’t say that about Josh Shapiro,” Smith answered before adding Ro Khanna and Gavin Newsom to the list. “But as it pertains to me, I don’t have any desire to be a politician, my life is really, really nice. But in the same breath, when I see what I saw prior to the election, if you’re going to come to me and tell me, ‘That’s our alternative’ and you’re saying, ‘Yo, Stephen A. you can be on the debate stage with these politicians.’ And you get an opportunity to call them out? I would love it.”

Stephen A. Smith might not want to debate Max Kellerman about sports, but he keeps insisting he would love to take part in a presidential debate. It’s an easy declaration for Smith to make because he knows it’s never going to happen.

Just as Smith is attempting to balance appealing to Democratic and Republican audiences with his political show, he’s trying to balance keeping his name in the mix for president, without actually having any interest in running. And he’s figured out the best way to do that is by repeatedly claiming he would win the Democratic nomination because Democrats are terrible.

“I want to have a profound impact on who the next president is going to be,” Smith recently said in an exclusive interview with The Hill. “If you’re an elected official, I want to be a place you’re going to have to come through if you’re going to get to where you want to go.”

Basically, Smith doesn’t want to be president, but he wants to build his platform into being an election influencer, much like Joe Rogan was credited for in 2024. He’s not there yet, but regardless of whether you like or hate his political commentary, Smith continues to keep finding ways of interjecting his name into the political news cycle.