Is Tom Hanks a Democrat? He’s Been Politically Active for Years

When it comes to beloved celebrities, few people are as universally beloved as Tom Hanks. It’s no coincidence that he was cast as Mister Rogers — he’s probably one of the only actors who could do the role justice! Even people who can agree on nothing else can agree that Tom Hanks seems to be a pretty good guy.

These days, people always seem to be interested in the political affiliations of celebrities, and it was only a matter of time before people started wondering about Tom. We were also curious about whether he has been politically outspoken, either in recent years or in the past. Here’s what we found out!

Now, obviously, the only person who knows for sure who Tom has voted for is Tom himself. That being said, we can definitely point to a few things in his past which indicate that he leans to the left of the political aisle.

In fact, Tom has been quite outspoken and politically active, especially over the past few presidential elections. Back in 2008, he uploaded a video to his MySpace account (remember those?) in which he endorsed Barack Obama’s presidential bid. And President Obama obviously noticed and appreciated the support — in 2012, Tom was chosen as the narrator for the Obama for America documentary The Road We’ve Traveled.

Fast forward to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and Tom once again gave a ringing endorsement, this time for Hillary Clinton (and this time, not on MySpace). He also endorsed President Joe Biden during his 2020 run for office. 

Tom has also donated funds to many Democratic politicians — but not all of his donations have been monetary in nature. Back in 2004, Tom noticed during a tour of the White House that the press corps had no coffee pot. He donated an espresso machine to the corps that year and sent in new machines in both 2010 and 2017. 

Perhaps somewhat tellingly, his 2017 coffee machine donation was accompanied by a note saying, “To the White House Press Corps, Keep up the good fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Especially for the truth part.”

Tom is also a huge proponent of protecting the environment and has practiced what he preached in that regard for decades. He currently owns a Toyota RAV4 EV, and he leased a General Motors EV1 before it was recalled in 2000. He was also reportedly on the waiting list for an Aptera 2 Series. (Granted, an interest in environmental issues isn’t ironclad evidence of one’s political leaning, but… it kind of is these days, right?)

If you’ve been keeping up with Tom’s recent endeavors, you might already know that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, have become Greek citizens. They were granted honorary Greek citizenship back in 2019 for their role in bringing international attention to a 2018 wildfire that ravaged the Greek seaside village of Mati.

As a way to say, “Thanks” (or maybe “Hanx!”), Former Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos signed an honorary naturalization order for Tom, Rita, and their children, which allows them to claim Greek citizenship in addition to their American citizenship. In other words, they hold dual citizenship, and, yes, they can still vote in American elections.