Billionaire hedge funder Bill Ackman says the Democratic Party is in the worst shape in its history – and thinks likely 2028 presidential contenders like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are “disasters.”
On a Tuesday episode of “The Katie Miller Podcast,” Ackman said there are some impressive Democratic members of Congress, but insisted the party as a whole has fallen into shambles.
“I think the Democratic Party is in the worst place it’s ever been. In the 250-year history of the country,” the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management said.
“I think it’s become like this crazy, radicalized, you know, anti-American thing.”
He zeroed in on Democratic politicians who, he said, have been bending the knee to more extreme party members — specifically jabbing at New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader.
“I think the problem with people who’ve chosen to be a politician for a career, you either have to get with the party in order to continue or you get primaried,” Ackman said.
“Sen. Schumer, I had a good relationship with him over the years. I thought he was a good man. But in recent years, I felt he’s just trying to keep his job. And, you know, that’s the really low point for politicians, when they’ll compromise on their values,” he added.
“And they’ll support, you know, a quasi-terrorist perhaps running for Senate in Michigan because they have to for the party. Stuff like that to me is – or terrorist supporter – I find that pretty, deeply concerning.”
He was seemingly nodding to far-leftist Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. His GOP opponent, Mike Rogers, has sought to link El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, a terror-designated Islamist group.
El-Sayed has since denounced the group, though his biological mom was an activist for the Muslim Brotherhood, according to a social-media post from her daughter, El-Sayed’s half-sister.
Ackman said he has some friends in the Democratic Party, like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker – but that he can’t think of a single candidate who could win his vote in the 2028 presidential election.
“I probably have as many, if not more, friends who are Democrats than Republicans. But, you know, I haven’t seen a good presidential candidate – certainly none of the names, you know — Pritzker, Newsom,” Ackman said. “I think these are, you know, disasters.”
At one point, when Katie Miller – wife of top Trump aide Stephen Miller and a former aide at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency – referred to Ackman as a reformed “lifelong Democrat,” the billionaire quickly pushed back.
“I wasn’t a lifelong – see, this is what you’re getting wrong,” Ackman said. “So, I was always a centrist. I didn’t align with a party. But in New York City, if you want to vote in an election like where it’s going to matter, like the primary, you have to register.
“I was an independent, and then there was an important election. I registered as a Democrat to vote for whomever, I don’t remember who, and then I, you know, hadn’t checked my registration in years kind of thing.”
Ackman has a long history of donating to prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama. More recently, he donated thousands of dollars to GOP-backed PACs and supported former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s failed bid to defeat New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Ackman initially congratulated Mamdani on his mayoral win, but later bashed the mayor’s policies as “very bad for New York.”
The moneyman specifically lambasted a rent freeze on nearly 1 million apartments, which he argued could discourage investment and worsen the city’s housing shortage.
He also tore into Mamdani for filming a viral video about his pied-à-terre tax outside billionaire Ken Griffin’s Manhattan penthouse, warning the new mayor could drive business leaders and their investments out of the city.