In his list of must-have qualities for a president, Mark Cuban told Business Insider that he wants an open-minded leader who won’t be an “ideologue” while in office.
After the four-day convention in Chicago, Cuban praised the Democratic nominee on social media, particularly for her message of lifting America’s middle class by supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs, as well as reducing health care, grocery and housing costs.
“Talking to stakeholders is the first step to understanding what makes the economy work or not, from pricing to growth,” Cuban posted in X on Friday.
“She is a business professional. She is herself. She is not an ideologue,” Cuban wrote of Harris.
Cuban was one of the first supporters of the Harris campaign after President Joe Biden dropped out on July 21. He added his name to a list of venture capitalists pledging their support for the vice president. To date, the list has collected 820 signatures.
The billionaire founder defended some of Harris’ economic plans on first-time homeowner subsidies and the federal rate hike ban.
He also said he appreciates the way Harris is promoting conversations around healthcare transparency and crypto regulation — both areas Cuban has some stake in with his online pharmacy company and digital asset investments.
“Of course, the devil is in the details. But so far I like what I’ve heard,” Cuban told BI.
Trump vs. Harris
Regarding Harris’ Republican opponent, Donald Trump, Cuban sees a stark contrast.
“One of the things that makes KH stand out from the Republican candidate is that she’s self-aware,” Cuban told BI. “She knows what she doesn’t know and is willing to listen to businesses, from the smallest yogurt shop on the corner to the giants of the industry.”
On X, Cuban defended Harris against critics who point to a lack of concreteness around her economic agenda, pointing out that Trump also has yet to outline details about his policy plans.
“We have to wait for the details of her policy like we are waiting for the details of Trump’s policy,” he wrote on August 18 in response to user X. “The difference is she’s 4 weeks away. Trump announced when?’
Although both candidates have yet to outline a comprehensive economic agenda, Cuban clearly prefers Harris’ rhetoric. He highlighted moments from Harris’ speech at the DNC when she talked about uniting workers and small business owners and criticized Trump’s vague plan to cool inflation.
Trump said in a speech on Wednesday that his plan to tackle inflation would include signing an executive order that directs “every Cabinet secretary and agency head to use every tool and authority at their disposal to defeat inflation and quickly to lower consumer prices’.
Cuban replied to X: “What voters are hearing: He’s going to instruct a bunch of unnamed bureaucrats and their agencies to talk to all the other unnamed bureaucrats and the thousands of bureaucrats who work for them to beat inflation in 100 days.”
He followed up on Friday by running a poll on X asking users “which is better” between two choices: “Talk2 Gov Bureacrats,” referring to Trump’s message, or “Talk2 Business people,” referring to Harris’ message .
After the convention, Cuban said in a Friday X post that Harris was switching parties.
“Kamala Harris does not conform to the policies of the Democratic Party. Kamala Harris sets her own policies and the Democratic Party follows her,” he wrote. “She literally redefined the party.”