The View host and former White House staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin has revealed she voted Democrat for the very first time in the 2024 US presidential election.
During the talk show’s Election Day episode, which aired on Tuesday (November 5), Farah Griffin – who served as director of strategic communications during former president Donald Trump’s administration – publicly shared that she cast her vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Farah Griffin, 35, began the segment by explaining her reasoning for voting for the Democratic presidential candidate. “Four years ago today, I was in the White House with Donald Trump on election night,” the former press secretary for the Department of Defense said.
“I was there standing next to one of his cabinet officials when Arizona was called for Joe Biden, and when it became increasingly clear that he was gonna lose,” she continued. “I believed he deserved to lose that night. At that point, I thought he hadn’t fought to win the election, but I thought the next four years would be the Republican Party rebuilding and becoming something I could believe in and turning the page on Donald Trump – and it didn’t do that.”
Farah Griffin then announced that “for the first time in my life, I voted for a Democrat,” as both her co-hosts and the studio audience erupted in applause. Sara Haines, Joy Behar, and Sunny Hostin all clapped for Farah Griffin, while Whoopi Goldberg remained stoic in her chair.
“I consider my vote on loan to her,” the ex-Trump aide continued. “I’m worried about the direction Donald Trump will take this country and I take my own warning seriously. What I saw is very real.”
The View co-host said she was simply searching for a candidate “who’s a kind and decent person who will bring this country together.” Although Farah Griffin admitted she doesn’t “agree with a lot of [Harris’s] policies,” she explained that her reason for supporting the Democrat was to focus on a “brighter future.”
“I think the best thing for the country and the future of the Republican Party is that Donald Trump loses and Kamala Harris is elected,” Farah Griffin concluded.
"For the first time in my life, I voted for a Democrat."@AlyssaFarah Griffin on her decision to vote for Kamala Harris: "I think the best thing for the future of the country and the future of the Republican Party is that Donald Trump will lose and Kamala Harris is elected." pic.twitter.com/NZR5FxYQmq
— The View (@TheView) November 5, 2024
Before joining the ABC daytime talk show, Farah Griffin served as special assistant to President Trump from October 2017 to September 2019 and press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence. She was then appointed press secretary for the Department of Defense and director of media affairs. In April 2020, she joined the White House as director of strategic communications.
However, Farah Griffin has been an outspoken critic of Trump since the January 6 attack on the US Capitol building, for which she blamed Trump and suggested he should resign. Since joining The View in July 2022, the political commentator has also declared that she will “never vote for Trump again.”
Farah Griffin is the latest of Trump’s former allies and cabinet members who’ve declined to endorse the Republican nominee in his reelection campaign. Earlier this year, former vice president Pence refused to endorse his ex-running mate in the 2024 election. Meanwhile, former defense secretaries Chuck Hagel and William Cohen; former CIA directors Michael Hayden and William Webster; and former Trump administration officials Miles Taylor and Olivia Troye are among the list of 100 prominent Trump officials who claimed he was “unfit to serve again as President, or indeed in any office of public trust.”
In October, just weeks before the election, former chief of staff John Kelly claimed Trump met the definition of “a fascist.” A group of 13 former aides later backed Kelly’s comments in an open letter, highlighting the “danger” of a potential second Trump term. Farah Griffin was among the former Trump administration officials who signed the letter.
