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ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith admitted this week that he was once approached about potentially running for the United States Senate.
On his First Take co-star JJ Redick’s podcast, Old Man and the Three, Smith discussed the time when he thought politics could be his next career. Smith noted that former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell (2003–11) is the person who approached him about a Senate role.
“One time I was approached by Governor Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania—he wanted me to run for Senate,” Smith said. “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.”
Obviously, he didn’t go down that path, as he continues to appear on ESPN’s First Take since 2012. But, there was a stretch in which Smith didn’t work at ESPN from 2009 to ‘12. He then shifted his focus to more political endeavors.
“When ESPN let me go in 2009, I appeared on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN 150 times,” Smith said. “I honestly thought that could be a possibility. In 2015, one of those networks, CNN actually interviewed me for my own show, on CNN. I can honestly tell you I believe, that if I were in politics, it might have got me killed because of the world we’re living in.”
While Smith is known for speaking his thoughts on ESPN, it doesn’t sound like fans will be seeing the sports personality on their ballots anytime soon—or ever.
