Mark Cuban names 2 up-and-coming Democrats he's impressed with, says the rest can't 'sell dollar bills for 50 cents'

• Mark Cuban says he's disillusioned with the Democratic Party after supporting Kamala Harris in 2024.
• He has two Democrats who he likes because they've "figured out social media algorithms."
• He named NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Texas.

Mark Cuban is pretty down on the Democrats these days — but there are a couple that have caught his eye.

During an appearance at the Punchbowl News Conference in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, the billionaire businessman named Texas Democratic US Senate candidate James Talarico and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as two Democrats whom he's impressed with.

"He goes out there, and he doesn't disparage anybody," Cuban said of Talarico, adding that he's also "texted with" the Texas Democrat. "He just goes out there and tries to connect to people and help people."

Talarico, a 36-year-old state representative who's waged an anti-billionaire campaign and whose politics are heavily inflected with Christianity, recently defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett to become the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Texas.

Cuban said that Talarico and Mamdani are "similar in a lot of respects, in that they grew up in the Trump era, and they saw the impact of social media."

"They know if you feed the algorithm, everybody gets — at least the younger voters get — most of their information and news from social media, whether it's YouTube or whatever it may be," Cuban said. "As long as you feed that algorithm, you're going to be okay. If you don't understand that, and you stand in front of a podium and wait for reporters to report, you're going to not be okay."

The billionaire businessman waded into politics in a big way in 2024, emerging as perhaps the most prominent business-world supporter of former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Since Harris's loss to President Donald Trump, Cuban has expressed disillusionment with the party.

"The Democrats couldn't sell dollar bills for 50 cents. They just are awful salespeople," Cuban said on Tuesday. "Whatever Trump does, they have to immediately claim that it's the worst thing in the history of worst things. And I think that works against them."

Reached for comment, Cuban told Business Insider in an email that Trump, Talarico, and Mamdani are the three politicians who "most understand how to make the algorithms work for them."

Cuban also said on Tuesday that he's not sure who he'll support for president in 2028, and that while he likes Talarico, he doesn't "know that he's ready, or he's the guy."

And Cuban said he won't be running himself, musing that when he's "six feet under," he wants people to say that "he had a good time, he had a great family, and he fucked up health care."