Mark Cuban is revealing why he turned down an offer to submit himself for consideration to become Kamala Harris‘ running mate in her 2024 presidential campaign.
The Shark Tank star made a recent appearance on The Bulwark podcast, where host Tim Miller told him, “Somebody I kind of trust said that they asked you to send in VP vetting papers and you said, ‘No, the list would be too long.’ Is that true?”
Cuban confirmed the rumors but admitted there’s another reason he opted out of submitting himself to be Harris’ vice president.
“The second part of that, my response was I’m not very good as the number two person,” the billionaire and outspoken supporter of the Harris campaign said. “And so if the last thing we need is me telling Kamala, you know, the president that, ‘No, that’s a dumb idea.’ Right? And I’m not real good at shaking hands and kissing babies.”
Harris ultimately selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice president. However, Donald Trump ended up beating Harris in the 2024 election, securing a second term in the White House. Miller also asked Cuban if he thinks the election results would have been “maybe different” if it were him standing alongside Harris, instead of Walz.
“Obviously it would have been different. My personality is completely different than Tim’s, my experiences, my backgrounds are completely different. I think I cut through the shit more directly. I’m not a politician, and so it would have been different, but it would have been awful. She would have fired me that same day,” he responded with a laugh.
When Miller added that Cuban would have still been better than the “present situation” with Trump, as the president has faced numerous criticisms in his second term over his handling of immigration, the economy, tariffs, international conflict and more, the former Dallas Mavericks owner replied, “True, but I really thought she [Harris] was going to win.”