Joy Behar Told JD Vance He Should Run for President, Podcast Reveals
Vice President JD Vance left his first appearance on ABC’s “The View” with an unexpected prize: a private compliment from longtime liberal co-host Joy Behar, who told him he was “pretty good for a Republican” and suggested he should run for president. The exchange, which occurred during a commercial break on Tuesday, has since gone viral and offers a rare moment of cross-party civility in an increasingly polarized political landscape.
The Compliment That Stunned a Vice President
Vance appeared on “The View” on June 16 to promote his new spiritual memoir, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” making him the third sitting U.S. vice president to appear on the program. That evening, he joined Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” and revealed what happened when the cameras stopped rolling.
According to Fox News, Vance said: “Joy Behar even said during the break, not joking, she said, ‘You know what? You’re, like, pretty good for a Republican.’ And I was like, ‘Whoa.’ That is a way better compliment than I expected from Joy Behar.”
Vance described the overall experience as less hostile than anticipated. “I expected them to be absolutely vicious, and they were only a little bit vicious. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” he said.
Behar Confirms: ‘For a Republican’
The following morning, Behar appeared on “The View” companion podcast “Behind the Table,” where executive producer Brian Teta revealed that Behar had gone further during the break. As Newsweek reported, Teta said: “You told him during the break that he should run for president because he had a good vibe.”
Behar confirmed the remark, adding: “For a Republican.”
Despite her personal compliment, Behar made clear she disagrees with Vance’s politics, stating she has “never voted for a Republican in my life.” She described Vance as “very genial” and said he “came on in good faith,” but also criticized him for blaming media coverage for his past criticisms of Trump.
A Deeper Divide — and a Distinction
Behar drew a notable distinction between Vance and President Donald Trump. “My point is that I think if he were president, he would go back to being more a kinder person,” Behar said on the podcast. “Trump is the one who’s not kind.”
She suggested Vance was “much more open-minded” before entering Trump’s orbit and predicted a potential 2028 matchup between Vance and California Governor Gavin Newsom would make for “an interesting debate.”
As reported by Yahoo News, Behar elaborated: “My theory about JD Vance [is] that he’s running for president — totally running for president.”
On-Air Tensions and Defied Expectations
The off-air cordiality stood in contrast to the on-air exchanges, where Vance sparred with the panel over immigration, President Trump’s comments on inflation, Black history exhibits at museums, and the release of Epstein files. Whoopi Goldberg called Vance a “racist” during one exchange, while Sunny Hostin pressed him on why additional Epstein documents had not been released.
Vance joked about the experience: “I thought that Sunny, the woman to my left, was going to call me a racist. In reality, it was Whoopi, the woman to my right, who called me a racist. So expectations were defied.”
During the broadcast, Vance referenced Behar’s off-air kindness with humor. “Joy said when we were off air that I’m fine, which I think is about the best endorsement I’m gonna get out of Joy Behar,” he said. Behar quickly replied, “For a Republican,” to which Vance shot back: “Graded on a curve here at ‘The View.‘“
2028 Implications
The exchange adds fuel to ongoing speculation about Vance’s political future. In a separate interview with Megyn Kelly, Vance said he expects to decide whether to run for president in 2028 after the midterm elections.
“After the midterms, I will eventually have to make that decision,” he told Kelly.
Behar, for her part, predicted Vance would return to “The View.” “He wants to run for president. Believe me, he’ll be back,” she said.
What This Means
Vance’s decision to appear on a show whose hosts President Trump has called “degenerates” and “dumb women” represents a strategic media engagement by the Trump administration. The appearance comes at a critical moment for “The View” itself: in February 2026, FCC Chair Brendan Carr announced action against ABC regarding equal time rules, questioning whether the program qualifies as “bona fide news.”
Whether this rare moment of bipartisan rapport translates into lasting political impact remains to be seen. But for one commercial break, at least, the walls between ideological opponents came down — if only long enough for a compliment and a prediction about the next presidential race.