--- title: Michelle Obama 'Will Never Run For Office' -President Obama description: President Barack Obama on Friday shut down speculation that First Lady Michelle Obama might pursue a political career of her own canonical: https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-28T15:39:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:01.243Z article:section: Politics og:title: Michelle Obama 'Will Never Run For Office,' President Says og:description: "That's one thing y'all can take to the bank" og:url: https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0ef18776655457/6988abf6fb4eac79ad88fa66/michelle-obama-political-office.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4021 og:image:height: 2262 og:image:alt: Michelle Obama Campaigns With Hillary Clinton In North Carolina og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michelle Obama 'Will Never Run For Office,' President Says twitter:description: "That's one thing y'all can take to the bank" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0ef18776655457/6988abf6fb4eac79ad88fa66/michelle-obama-political-office.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michelle Obama ‘Will Never Run for Office,’ President Says > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Michelle Obama Campaigns for Hillary Clinton [Watch (HLS stream): Michelle Obama Campaigns for Hillary Clinton](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RlLzmirb.m3u8) (2:09)  _Published 2016-10-27. Obama has already campaigned notably for Clinton, but the Winston-Salem rally marks the first time she’s campaigning with the nominee._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 28, 2016 3:39 PM UTC  First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Oct. 27, 2016. First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Oct. 27, 2016.Peter Zay—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 28, 2016 3:39 PM UTC President Barack Obama on Friday shut down speculation that First Lady Michelle Obama might pursue a political career of her own. The First Lady has become one of Hillary Clinton’s most popular and effective surrogates during the presidential race. She has captured audiences with impassioned, emotional speeches at the [Democratic National Convention](http://time.com/4423176/democratic-convention-michelle-obama-star/) and [on the campaign trail](http://motto.time.com/4530580/michelle-obama-donald-trump-comments-sexual-assault/). At a [rally in North Carolina](http://time.com/4548363/michelle-obama-hillary-clinton-north-carolina/) on Thursday, it was Clinton who spoke first and introduced Michelle Obama to resounding applause. Her popularity has led some to suggest she might seek elected office herself, but her husband ruled it out in an interview Friday. “She will never run for office,” President Obama said during a radio interview on _Sway in the Morning_. “She is as talented and brilliant a person as there is, and I could not be prouder of her, but Michelle does not have the patience or the inclination to actually be a candidate herself. And that’s one thing y’all can take to the bank.” He said he and his wife will continue advocating for certain causes once they leave the White House. “We’re going to continue to be very active in issues we care about,” he said, mentioning two of their initiatives, [My Brother’s Keeper](http://time.com/10557/obama-my-brothers-keeper-minorities-race/) and [Let Girls Learn](http://time.com/4260808/michelle-obama-global-girls-education/). “We’re going to be doing a lot of work. We’ll just be doing it a different way.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/"},"headline":"Michelle Obama ‘Will Never Run for Office,’ President Says","datePublished":"2016-10-28T15:39:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:01.243Z","description":"\"That's one thing y'all can take to the bank\"","url":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","Michelle Obama","flotus"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0ef18776655457/6988abf6fb4eac79ad88fa66/michelle-obama-political-office.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0ef18776655457/6988abf6fb4eac79ad88fa66/michelle-obama-political-office.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Michelle Obama Campaigns With Hillary Clinton In North Carolina","caption":"Michelle Obama Campaigns With Hillary Clinton In North Carolina","creditText":"Peter Zay—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/","name":"Michelle Obama ‘Will Never Run for Office,’ President Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Michelle Obama Campaigns for Hillary Clinton","description":"Obama has already campaigned notably for Clinton, but the Winston-Salem rally marks the first time she’s campaigning with the nominee.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/RlLzmirb/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-10-27T21:09:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RlLzmirb.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/","duration":"PT2M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```