By Billionaire businessman and “Shark Tank” celebrity Mark Cuban revealed this week that Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign seriously considered him for the number two slot on the ticket—an offer he declined without hesitation.
Speaking candidly on The Bulwark podcast with host Tim Miller, Cuban confirmed that Harris’s team sent him official vetting documents but said he rejected the idea almost immediately, according to The Hill.
“I’m not very good as the No. 2 person. 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 the shaking hands and kissing babies,” he told Tim Miller from The Bulwark.
Miller said he’d heard about the offer through “green room gossip” at MSNBC and wanted to know how the electoral outcome might have been swayed if Cuban were the Democratic nominee for vice president instead of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D).
However, the “Shark Tank” investor said it wouldn’t have changed much.
“My personality is completely different than Tim’s. My experiences, my backgrounds are completely different. I think I’ve cut through the s‑‑‑ more directly. I’m not a politician. And so it would have been different, but it would have been awful,” Cuban said.
“She would have fired me within six days.”
Cuban, who campaigned on behalf of Harris during the 2024 race, said his personality and blunt communication style were a poor fit for the vice presidency. Though uninterested in elected office, Cuban didn’t rule out a policy role. In September 2024, he floated the idea of leading the Securities and Exchange Commission under a Harris administration. “The SEC needs a shake-up,” he said at the time, calling for greater transparency and stronger oversight of financial markets.
Podcast host Miller suggested that Cuban’s outsider appeal could have shifted the trajectory of Harris’s campaign—particularly in contrast to her eventual running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Cuban acknowledged the potential political calculus but dismissed the prospect with characteristic candor. “It would’ve been unique, sure,” he said. “But awful for me.”
While declining the vice presidential nod, Cuban remained an outspoken supporter of Harris, primarily because of his staunch opposition to Donald Trump. “I backed her because she wasn’t Trump,” Cuban said bluntly.
Throughout the 2024 campaign, Cuban lambasted Trump’s trade and immigration policies, but he embarrassed Kamala Harris in a key interview on CNBC when he called our Harris for claiming that price gouging was the cause of inflation.
OOPS. Kamala surrogate Mark Cuban says inflation is not attributable to "price gouging," like Comrade Kamala continuously says. pic.twitter.com/AUkeLOYiXb
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 26, 2024
The revelation offers a glimpse into the Harris campaign’s behind-the-scenes efforts to broaden its electoral reach. But if Harris was looking for a bold, unconventional pick to shake up the ticket, Cuban made clear he was never going to play second fiddle, especially to the deeply unpopular vice president.
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