Oprah Winfrey told "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday that she definitely was not running for president in 2020, clearing the way for at least six others to replace her as the non-politician celebrity candidate.
Winfrey was nudged by show co-host and close friend Gayle King about running for the White House and Winfrey made her intentions clear.
"There will be no running of office of any kind, for me," Winfrey said.
Here are six other non-politicians being mentioned for some kind of political office who may be reconsidering things now.
1.Mark Cuban: The owner of the Dallas Mavericks and star of his own reality show, ABC's "Shark Tank," said Monday that he's not running – yet. Cuban said he would if he was single, according to WFAA-TV.
"If I was single, I would do it," Cuban told reporters, per WFAA-TV. "I haven't decided yet, but it's so tribal right now and it's so mean is so many respects, why would somebody want to put their family through that?"
2. Mark Zuckerberg: The founder of Facebook has said he is not running for president or another office, but Politico pointed out in August that he and wife, Priscilla Chan, recently hired Democratic pollster Joel Benenson, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama and the chief strategist for Hillary Clinton.
The couple also hired David Plouffe, campaign manager for Obama's 2008 presidential run, as president of policy and advocacy.
3. Kid Rock: The musician was not running for president, as of the Winfrey news on Wednesday, but he has launched the website KidRockforSenate.com for a possible run against Democrat Debbie Stabenow, who has held the seat since 2001.
The rocker, though, got close to the high seat in April when he took a photo in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump and Ted Nugent, at the invitation of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, TMZ noted.
4. Ted Nugent: The rocker, who joined Kid Rock and Palin in the Oval Office photo, most recently said he is not running for president, but he told "Fox & Friends" in May that he also is considering running against Stabenow.
"Well, I'm a terminal 'we the people American patriot' and I think I'm doing the most important political job in the world and that is participating in the scared experiment of self-government and demanding constitutional accountability from our elected employees," Nugent told Fox News then.
In 2013, Nugent considered running for president and he also thought about running for the Michigan governor's seat in 2006 and 2010, The Washington Post reported.
5. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson: No one really knows if the professional wrestler turned A-list actor is serious about running for president after GQ magazine pumped up the idea in a cover story in May. When he named actor Tom Hanks as his running mate on "Saturday Night Live" in May, noted CNN, it appeared the run was more tongue-in-cheek at best.
If Johnson needs a mentor, though, he won’t have to stray far from the wrestling world. Jesse Ventura stunned the political establishment in 1999 to serve one term as governor of Minnesota, CBS News noted.
6. Curt Schilling: The former baseball great turned broadcaster said he would only consider a presidential run after President Donald Trump leaves office in 2024, per USA Today. He said his biggest political priority is taking on Massachusetts U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren in 2018, Esquire magazine noted.
The World Series hero for the Boston Red Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks told USA Today this summer that had built an instant rapport with former Trump strategist and current Breitbart executive Steve Bannon.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.