He is popular.
He is a household name.
He is as comfortable on television as on social networks and sports venues.
Mark Cuban, 64, is the billionaire next door. The one who can be friends with the haves and the have-nots.
His energy is contagious. He is respected by both Democrats and Republicans.
To this almost ideal pedigree, we must add that he was born in Pittsburgh, PA, a key state for the Democrats, and has been living in Dallas, TX, a Republican bastion, since 1982. The arrival of tech companies like Tesla in recent months could make Texas a swing state.
All this makes Cuban, who has invested in more than 400 startups and has founded more than 10 companies, an ideal candidate for the White House. He had not hidden this ambition in the past.
Possible Yes to Clinton and Trump
In 2016, he said he would "absolutely” consider becoming Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s running mate.
"The key would be that she'd have to go more to center,” the reality TV star told NBC's "Meet the Press" at the time.
During the same interview, he also said he would consider joining Republican candidate Donald Trump's ticket. "I'd be, like, 'Okay, Donald. That's great. Let's talk about it',” Cuban said. "But we're both going to have to dig in and really look and understand the issues so we can come up with solutions.’"
He then explained that Donald Trump's candidacy had opened the door to non-traditional candidates to run for president.
"Well, it's certainly more of a consideration than it was, for the reasons we've mentioned before, that you don't have to be the perfect Stepford candidate like you would've been in the past,” he said.
Trump and Clinton eventually chose other running mates.
During the 2020 election, Cuban had supported President Joe Biden, even though he considered him, he told CNBC, to be "technologically illiterate at a time when technology is the most impactful tool we have to compete economically, medically and militarily in the world."
"The president doesn’t have to be a tech expert but having a strong understanding regarding the impact and abilities of [artificial intelligence], robotics, personalized medicine and more is a needed skill set in today’s world.”
He was also very critical of outgoing President Trump.
"I think that Donald doesn’t put the best people in place any longer. He did at the beginning [of his presidency], and I was proud of him at the beginning. But now, he just wants people that are loyal to him and that’s a problem," he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in May 2020.
'NO'
Despite his support for Biden, he nevertheless made it clear that it was a pity that Americans had only the choice between the two men. For him, neither of the two candidates was the right option.
"We don’t pick the best candidates,” Cuban said on The Verge’s “Decoder” podcast in November 2020. "I don’t think anybody’s here to say that Joe Biden and Donald Trump were the best and brightest that this country has to offer, or even out of the primaries from either party.”
"We are now seeing the downside of having a political duopoly,” the Dallas Maverick owner concluded.
The billionaire has never hidden his aversion to the two-party system and has sometimes given the impression that he was going to run as an independent candidate.
"The duopoly I would shut down in a nanosecond ? The Democratic and Republican Parties. Together they are the definition of anti-competitive collusion that has been successful shutting out competition in a manner that is detrimental to the American People every minute of every day," he posted on Twitter in October 2020.
With the midterm elections set to take place in a few days and the 2024 electoral cycle to begin shortly after, Cuban has made his decision.
As in 2016 and 2020, he will not run for president, he told TheStreet in an email interview.
"NO interest at all," he said when asked if he will run. "I think I can have more impact outside the system."
He added that: "Our political system is broken."
In addition to his multiple investments and businesses, the billionaire is currently disrupting the pharmaceutical industry through his online pharmacy, Mark Cuban CostPlus Drug Company.
