Martha Stewart has finally weighed in on the 2024 election and endorsed a candidate.
During the 2024 Retail Influencer CEO Forum Tuesday, Stewart shared that she would definitely be tuning in to the evening’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump: “Oh, you bet.” But for the first time this go-round, she also said who she’s voting for: “Kamala,” she said, with an emphasis on its correct pronunciation.
Stewart supports Harris because she wants a president “who doesn’t hate New York” and “doesn’t hate democracy,” she explained during an on stage conversation with the Daily Beast’s Chief Creative and Content Officer Joanna Coles.
Martha Stewart and Joanna Coles at the 2024 Retail Influencer CEO Forum on Tuesday, September 10, 2024.
Julie Stapen
The 83-year-old lifestyle maven has been critical of Trump going back to 2006, when they both had versions of The Apprentice airing at the same time. After Stewart’s version of the show faced low viewership, she blamed Trump for not honoring a deal she said they had for her to “fire” him, making way for her show to be the only one: “Having two Apprentices was as unfair to him as it was unfair to me,” she said at the time.
Trump, in turn, responded by chastising her with a public letter, accusing her of lying about an agreement and later told the press, “I wish she would be able to take responsibility for her failure,” as the two feuded.
She did publicly support Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016, telling CNN, “We just can’t have a country run by someone who is totally unprepared for what comes.”
Stewart is a convicted felon but was only restricted from voting during her five-month prison sentence starting in October 2004 under Connecticut law, where she was a resident at the time. She was freed in 2005 and subsequently became a New York resident, where she is also free to vote.
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Martha Stewart and Donald Trump “fire” up NBC’s promo campaign for both “Apprentice” shows. The two icons gathered together to shoot multiple on-air spots for NBC on August 8, 2005.
NBC Universal
After Trump’s victory in 2016, Stewart walked back her previous comments, congratulating him and expressing her excitement about having a “true entrepreneur in the White House.” She then stayed notably silent on the subject when Trump ran against Joe Biden in 2020.
In an interview with The New York Times in 2020, Stewart was asked whether or not she planned to endorse Biden or Trump for president—a question she dodged. “My personal conundrum is, my friends know who I am and what I stand for,” she told the Times, “but in terms of being the owner of the magazine, how do you take sides when 50 percent of your readers might be on one side, and 50 percent on the other? It’s difficult. That’s my answer to that.”
Four years later, Stewart still acknowledges that while discussing politics means she could “lose 50 percent of your viewers and your fans,” she couldn’t help, when asked, to confirm on which side of the political divide she falls.
But don’t expect to hear more from her on that subject any time soon. “I’m not allowed to talk [about politics]. I can’t post anything about politics because first of all, the eyeballs of a parent company come and [I’ll] get a call right away—can’t do that,” Stewart said. “You can’t talk [about that], so—keep it quiet.”
