Stephen A. Smith challenges Michelle Obama's suggestion that America isn't ready for a female president

Stephen A. Smith is pushing back on former first lady Michelle Obama's suggestion that Americans are "not ready" to elect a woman to the White House. 

On Monday's episode of "Straight Shooter," host Smith pointed to newly elected Democratic governor-elects Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia as proof Americans are willing to vote for female leaders, noting that Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., won her election and that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election. 

"Didn't we just see an election take place last month where a woman won the gubernatorial seat in New Jersey - Mikie Sherrill? Didn't we just see Abigail Spanberger win in Virginia - the gubernatorial seat? Isn't Kathy Hochul the governor of New York? Am I missing something?" Smith asked. "Maybe I need to go back to the 2016 election with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Didn't she win the popular vote in the United States?"

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Pointing to Clinton's 2.9 million-vote margin over President Donald Trump in 2016, Smith asked, "What do you mean we weren't ready?"

"Weren't there White women who voted for Donald Trump? Not just White men. Didn't the Blacks show up for Hillary Rodham Clinton? Didn't Hispanics show up for Hillary Rodham Clinton? Wasn't it Hillary Rodham Clinton who spent the last few days neglecting to campaign in places like Michigan or Wisconsin or Pennsylvania or places like that while [Trump] was everywhere?" he continued. "Y'all remember that?"

Moving on to a more recent example, Smith noted that while former Vice President Kamala Harris did not win her bid for the White House in 2024, her loss was more likely due to Democrats running former President Joe Biden until the very last moment, not Americans being unwilling to vote for a female candidate.

"How about 2024 when Kamala Harris was running as the Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States of America? Yes, she did only have 107 days to do it. But whose fault was that? The Republicans, Black people, Hispanics, women, whomever. Nobody told y'all to hold on to Joe Biden for dear life until July of that summer, when there was evidence that showed months earlier that he wasn't ready anymore," he asserted.

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The "Straight Shooter" host said Harris had received more votes than any other Democratic candidate in history and argued that the former vice president's hesitation to sit for interviews and separate herself from some of the Biden administration's decisions contributed to her losing the election. Despite Smith's statement that Harris had received more votes than any other Democrat in history, the former vice president is second in that category, just behind Biden, who garnered over 81 million votes in 2020. 

"But 74 million plus people still came out and voted for you. Myself included," he added.

Smith also referenced his earlier remarks about Michelle Obama, praising the former first lady and saying that if she had run against Trump in 2024, she would have won - a belief he said he still holds.

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On Friday, Michelle Obama said Americans are "not ready" to elect a woman to the White House, citing Harris' 2024 presidential election loss to Trump. Obama made the comments to a crowd of women at the Brooklyn Academy of Music while promoting her new book, "The Look."

"As we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain't ready," she said.

"That's why I'm like, 'Don't even look at me about running, because you all are lying. You're not ready for a woman. You are not.'"

The former first lady went on to say that she does not believe men in America are comfortable with a woman leading them.

"You know, we've got a lot of growing up to do, and there's still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman, and we saw it," Obama said.

Fox News' Landon Mion contributed to this report.