Here's What Michelle Obama Has Said About Running For President
Michelle Obama is one of the names being floated as a potential replacement should President Joe Biden drop out of the 2024 presidential race despite her repeatedly ruling out running for office.
Talk that the former first lady could run for president has been going around for years now, but it recently ramped up following Biden's disastrous performance during his recent debate against Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Doubts about Biden's fitness for the presidential role and calls for him to be replaced with a younger candidate have increased since the June 27 debate.
Read also: Michelle Obama Would Beat Trump In 2024 Elections By 11 Points; Everyone Else Would Lose: New Poll
Obama has since become one of the most popular potential Biden replacements, with odds of her becoming the new Democratic presidential nominee surging.
But even if Biden withdraws, Obama is unlikely to step up.
Here's what Obama has said over the years about running for president.
2018
During a leadership conference in 2018, Obama explained why she doesn't want to run for president despite pleas from supporters.
"My sense is that, first of all, you have to want the job," the former FLOTUS said, according to Today. "And you can't just say, 'Well, you're a woman, run.' We just can't find the women we like and ask them to do it, because there are millions of women who are inclined and do have the passion for politics."
She noted that unlike her husband, former President Barack Obama, she's "never had the passion for politics."
"I just happened to be married to somebody who has the passion for politics, and he drug me kicking and screaming into the arena," she joked.
2022
In a 2022 interview with the BBC, Obama confessed that she hates being asked the question, "Are you going to run for president?"
As for her answer, she firmly responded, "No, I'm not. I'm not going to run."
2023
Despite this, the question of Obama potentially joining the presidential race was once more brought up in her Netflix special with Oprah Winfrey, "The Light We Carry."
When asked by Winfrey if she will ever run for president, Obama responded, "I've never expressed any interest in politics. Ever."
"I agreed to support my husband. He wanted to do it, and he was great at it. But at no point have I ever said, 'I think I want to run.' Ever," she clarified.
Obama explained that she believes she is "more effective outside of politics" than as a part of it.
"Politics is hard. And the people who get into it -- it's just like marriage, it's just like kids -- you've got to want it. It's got to be in your soul because it is so important. It is not in my soul," she told the media mogul.
"Service is in my soul. Helping people is in my soul. Working with kids? I will spend my lifetime trying to make kids feel seen and find their light. That I will do. I don't have to hold office to do that," Obama continued.
2024
Obama's most recent response to the presidential run questions came in March when she refuted suggestions that she plans to join the 2024 race.
In a statement to NBC News, her communications director Crystal Carson said, "As former first lady Michelle Obama has expressed several times over the years, she will not be running for president."
Obama's team also made it clear that the former first lady will back Biden's campaign as she did in 2020.
"Mrs. Obama supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' re-election campaign," added Carson.
