Hunter Biden, the 56-year-old son of former President Joe Biden, cracked open the door to a 2028 presidential campaign in a radio interview released on Sunday, September 6, 2026 — but he announced nothing, said he had not decided and raised the possibility only in answer to a conditional question from a conservative radio host.
Speaking on WABC’s “The Cats Roundtable,” Hunter Biden was asked by host John Catsimatidis — a billionaire grocer, conservative donor and ally of President Donald Trump — whether he had any plans to seek the White House. “If I get your endorsement, I may have to,” Biden replied.
Asked the same question earlier in the interview, he said, “I haven’t made up my mind.” The endorsement line appeared to be a joke, given Catsimatidis’ politics and his relationship with the president.
No Announcement, No Campaign
Nothing in the interview amounted to a declaration of candidacy, and a run would be Hunter Biden’s first bid for political office. He offered no timetable, no exploratory step and no commitment. As of September 6, no major candidate in either party had announced a 2028 presidential campaign ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
The wide-ranging conversation touched on wealth inequality and immigration. Hunter Biden said Trump had tapped into public anger over inequality in past campaigns but had since become more interested, in his view, in his own finances than in the finances of ordinary Americans. He also distanced himself from candidates whom Catsimatidis described as people who hate the country, saying any candidate who does not love America is not in the same party he is.
Praise for the Democratic Bench
Rather than promote himself, Hunter Biden spent much of the exchange talking up other Democrats, saying the party has a deep roster of potential nominees. He singled out Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker as part of what he called an incredible bench.
“I love Gavin Newsom, personally,” he said of the California governor. He did not name former Vice President Kamala Harris or former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, two figures mentioned in early 2028 speculation alongside Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Hunter Biden said he wants whoever ends up in the job to commit to adhering to the rule of law and to the idea of a constitutional republic and the aspirations of everyday Americans. He added that he genuinely wants any president to succeed, particularly at keeping the country safe, which he called the primary responsibility of the office.
Newsom has been open about weighing a bid of his own, telling CBS News’ Robert Costa that he would not be truthful if he denied considering a White House run after the 2026 midterms. An August survey from Emerson College and The Hill showed Newsom with narrow advantages over Vice President JD Vance, and over Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well, when voters were asked about theoretical contests, while Ocasio-Cortez trailed both Republicans.
A Shift From His August Remarks
The tone marked a change from an August 21 appearance on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” where Hunter Biden brushed off the idea of a campaign entirely, telling host Bill Maher he had not thought about running and suggesting that if he ever announced a candidacy, someone should check whether he had relapsed.
He has flirted with the subject before. In June, on Newsom’s podcast “This Is Gavin Newsom,” he jokingly offered to serve as the governor’s running mate after Newsom introduced him as a presidential candidate. He followed up with a post on X noting that, in this century, Democrats have not captured the presidency unless a Biden was on the ticket.
Any actual campaign would revive a legal and personal history Republicans have spent years litigating. A jury convicted him in 2024 of federal gun charges stemming from a 2018 firearm purchase, when he falsely denied being a drug user, and he pleaded guilty separately to federal tax charges. Before he could be sentenced, his father granted him a full and unconditional pardon on December 1, 2024, covering federal offenses committed between 2014 and 2024. Material from the laptop that became public weeks before the 2020 election was cited as evidence in those cases. He was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine, and he chronicled his drug and alcohol addiction in his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things.”
Hunter Biden told Catsimatidis that what he cares about now is the 50 million Americans he said are still suffering, sick with their addictions. He said he recently marked more than seven years of sobriety.
The record stands where he left it on the air: an unmade decision and a list of Democrats he said he would be happy to support.