Comedian and HBO host Bill Maher said he could see himself voting for Vice President JD Vance in the 2028 presidential election, saying his vote is “in play” as he criticized what he views as the Democratic Party’s increasingly leftward shift.
“Could you see yourself voting for JD Vance?” ABC News’s anchor Jon Karl asked.
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“Yes,” Maher said on ABC News’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos. “If this is the Democratic side, yes.”
Maher’s comments come after Vance appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher on June 26, where the two debated issues ranging from the 2020 election to President Donald Trump’s influence over the Republican Party.
During that interview, Maher pressed Vance on Republicans’ continued reluctance to acknowledge former President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, calling acceptance of election results one of his biggest concerns with the GOP.
“But it is a problem if you have an entire political party, an entire political movement that doesn’t recognize the legitimacy of elections, of course, and my big issue from the beginning,” Maher said.
Despite those disagreements, Maher referred to his interview with Vance favorably, referring to it as “a good time.” He argued Americans should be more willing to engage with people they disagree with politically.
“Everybody’s a monster until you talk to them,” Maher said. “You can disagree with them a lot, but we had a good time.”
For decades, Maher has been one of the country’s most recognizable liberal voices, frequently criticizing Republicans and, in particular, Trump. But he has also distinguished himself from many Democrats by repeatedly criticizing what he sees as excesses on the Left, including progressive identity politics, anti-police activism, and ideological litmus tests.
Asked why Republicans are often more willing than Democrats to appear on his HBO show, Maher accused members of his own party of lacking the courage to defend their views.
“Democrats are cowardly,” he said. “Their party is being taken over now by … every day I hear about a new, very radical [candidate].”
Maher said he lost fans years ago because he refused to embrace what he considers the left’s more extreme positions.
“I wasn’t going to go along with some of this crazy stuff on the Left,” he said. “I didn’t change really on what I thought about the Right, but I can’t sit and just not notice stuff.”
While Maher predicted Democrats are likely to fare well in the midterm elections because they will largely be running against Trump’s record, he expressed concern about the party’s direction heading into the 2028 presidential race.
“I think the Democrats will do very well in the midterms,” he said. “2028 is a different story because by then, this wing of the party, this new wing with all the energy … is saying some variation of not ‘defund the police’ — ‘abolish the police.’ No prisons, no police.”
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Maher also criticized the Democratic Socialists of America, arguing that some of its proposals amount to communism rather than socialism.
“Yes, my vote is in play because I’m not living in communist America,” Maher said. “I mean, I know that the talking point is it’s not communism; it’s socialism. OK. I’ve read the quotes from the DSA platform, from their own mouths. Don’t tell me I’m not seeing what I am seeing.”
