Hunter Biden Says He 'May Have To' Run for President in 2028

Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, floated a 2028 presidential bid over the weekend, telling a New York radio audience that he "may have to" enter the race. The comment came Sunday during an appearance on WABC's "Cats Roundtable" with host John Catsimatidis and marked a sharp reversal from the younger Biden's repeated dismissals of a White House run as recently as August. It lands at a moment when Democrats are still searching for a standard-bearer and when Hunter Biden has been working to rebuild a public image shaped by federal conviction, a sweeping presidential pardon, and years of very public struggles.

'If I Get Your Endorsement, I May Have To'

Catsimatidis, the billionaire founder of the Gristedes supermarket chain and a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, asked Biden during the Sunday interview whether he had considered a White House bid. "If I get your endorsement, I may have to," Biden replied.

The exchange carried a playful tone given the host's politics, but Biden leaned into the idea rather than shutting it down. He framed addiction as his defining issue, saying, "The things I care most about is the 50 million Americans that are still suffering with their addictions." Biden has spoken openly about his own recovery for years and said in the interview that he recently marked more than seven years of sobriety.

Asked what qualified him for the office, Biden pointed to the Constitution rather than his own resume. "He is my qualification for becoming president, if you believe in the Constitution of the United States of America that you swear to uphold and protect," he said. He added that he wants the next president to commit to one thing above all: adhering to the rule of law.

A Reversal Months in the Making

Just weeks ago, Biden was waving off the question entirely. During an Aug. 21 appearance on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," he joked that anyone who heard he had announced a campaign should "check and see if I relapsed." The contrast between that answer and Sunday's trial balloon could not be starker.

The shift coincides with a broader push into public life. Biden recently launched a Substack column and a podcast centered on addiction and recovery, speaking with recovering addicts and telling his own story in his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things." For a man who spent years out of the spotlight, the pace of interviews and media appearances has picked up noticeably in recent weeks.

He was careful not to step on the party's other prospects. Biden praised the depth of the Democratic field, name-dropping Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and JB Pritzker of Illinois before adding, "I love Gavin Newsom, personally." The personal warmth toward the California governor, widely viewed as a leading contender for the nomination, suggested Biden sees himself less as an alternative to the field than as an heir to the family name within it.

There is also a heavier backdrop. Biden has discussed his father's battle with stage 4 prostate cancer in recent interviews, describing a condition that has spread and grown increasingly painful. The family ordeal has kept the former president's name in the news even as the 2028 conversation begins without him.

The Pardon and the Record a Campaign Would Face

Any Biden candidacy would instantly revive the legal history his father's pardon was meant to close. Hunter Biden was convicted in 2024 on federal gun charges tied to an October 2018 firearm purchase, during which he falsely denied drug use on the required form, and he separately pleaded guilty to federal tax charges. In December 2024, Joe Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon covering any federal offenses his son committed between 2014 and 2024, erasing the convictions before sentencing.

The rule-of-law message lands awkwardly against that record, and Republicans would need no time to assemble the contrast. The infamous laptop saga, which surfaced weeks before the 2020 election and detailed drug use, firearm possession, and tax problems, would be back in the conversation as well. Democrats privately worry that a Biden campaign would force the party to spend an entire cycle defending the family's baggage instead of attacking the opposition.

Even the endorsement Biden coyly sought belongs to a Republican. Catsimatidis is a Trump ally and conservative donor, which made the exchange a light moment on air but also a reminder of how unusual the flirtation looks from the outside. A potential Democratic contender joking about needing the backing of a prominent Trump supporter does little to project strength.

What to Watch Next

No candidate on either side has formally entered the 2028 race, and both parties remain focused on November's midterm elections, with voting already underway in some states. Democrats continue to cycle through names that include Newsom, Beshear, Pritzker, Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Newsom has polled ahead of both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in hypothetical general election matchups, underscoring why party insiders see him as the early favorite. Hunter Biden's comments this week are unlikely to change that calculus, but they do put him in the conversation at a time when the party has no obvious heir.

The real question is whether Sunday's trial balloon becomes a campaign. Biden has the platform, the name recognition, and now a public schedule built around a sympathetic cause. He also has a record that would make a primary run one of the most scrutinized candidacies in modern history. For Republicans, few prospects would be more welcome than a race that forces Democrats to defend the Biden family's courtroom record and its pardon. Watch whether Hunter Biden keeps talking about 2028 in the months ahead -- and whether any Democrat is willing to take his flirtation seriously.