Yes, a convicted felon can run for president in the United States of America. The U.S. Constitution does not prevent a felon from running for the office of the President. What becomes interesting is whether they are able to handle the political fallout of running from or after spending time in prison, although this has become seemingly less of an issue in modern times.

There are very limited requirements when running for Presidential election, which are listed below:

• The candidate contesting for the position must be a natural-born citizen of the United States of America.


• The candidate must be 35 years or older.


• The candidate should be a US resident for 14 years.

The only additional exception is that the American Constitution prohibits a tenure of longer than 2 terms of 4 years each.

Note: The constitution also states that if a public official served under another President’s term for up to two years or more, then that person shall serve for only one term.

Can Former President Donald Trump Run Again?

According to these rules, since Donald Trump was a single-term president, he is eligible to run for President for one more term. Even if he were to become incarcerated, the constitution spells out that it is entirely legal to be a felon running for office. The reason for this is that giving someone a felony record could be used as a political tool to prevent someone from taking office, that is why a clean record is not required to run for president.

Note: Although it is legal for a felon to run for president, in many states felons are denied the right to vote due to felony disenfranchisement laws. Ironically, Florida (Mar-a-Lag0) has the highest number of disenfranchised voters out of any state.

What’s The Probability Of A Felon Becoming A President?

There has been no American President convicted or who has been incarcerated or served a sentence prior to their Presidential term. Felony charges or a criminal record often act as leverage for the Opposition. Stigmatization of felons complicates the process of establishing trust amongst people and also harms the public record.

A felony record is more of a political burden than a legal one – the only major negative effect of having a record is that it may be used by your opposition. Alternatively, if your charges were bogus, it may end up galvanizing your base.

Historically there have been several people who have run for President with no legal issues:

• 1920– Socialist Party Leader Eugene V. Debs ran while in an Atlanta federal penitentiary for charges he gained advocating dodging the draft. He received 913,664 votes (3.4%)


• 1992– Lyndon LaRouche, a perennial presidential candidate became the second person to run for office from a prison cell. He garnered 22,863 votes (less than 0.1%) in his third of nine presidential runs.


• 2012 – Keith Judd, another perennial presidential candidate, received 41% of the primary vote in West Virginia vs. an incumbent Barack Obama.

It should be noted that none of these candidates ever received any electoral votes.

If a person decides to contest for the election without constant support from family members, friends, and the community, it can become extremely taxing. Because of this, the probability of a felon becoming President of the United States of America is narrowed even further. Additionally, the deprivation of civil rights (if the candidate is presently incarcerated) greatly hurts the candidate.