Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia is drawing political attention after saying he left the Democratic Party and voted for Donald Trump, pointing to border security and immigration enforcement as central reasons for the shift.
Gebbia made the comments in an interview with Katie Miller on The Katie Miller Podcast, where he described the border as a decisive issue in his political realignment.
“This is a real problem and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be enforcing the laws of our country and our border,” Gebbia said, according to the source material. “I don’t think I can support a political party that wants to have an open border, that lets in criminals and dangerous people into our country. That’s not something I can get behind.”
The remarks put Gebbia among a small but visible group of Silicon Valley figures who have become more open about supporting Trump or criticizing Democratic leadership, especially on immigration, regulation and government efficiency.
## Gebbia Says Questions Started in 2021
Gebbia said his concerns grew in 2021, when he began asking Democrats for explanations about what was happening at the border. He said he was not satisfied with the answers he received.
He then turned to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former White House adviser, seeking a different view of the issue.
“I get on the phone with Jared and say, ‘Hey, can you help me, fill in the gaps for me? Like, what am I missing here? Is this normal?’” Gebbia said. “And so he put me on this curriculum of just talking to experts in the field. I remember just being like, holy cow, this is crazy. Like, this is not right.”
Gebbia, whose net worth is estimated by the source at more than $8 billion, reportedly made his 2024 vote public in January in a post on X. In that post, he said he had voted for Trump and criticized Democrats, saying the party had “lost their way.”
## New Washington Role Under Trump
Gebbia is also taking on a more formal role in Washington. According to the source, Trump tapped him last month to lead a federal design overhaul as the nation’s first chief design officer.
The effort is described as a push to modernize government websites and make them easier for the public to use. Gebbia said the goal is to make federal digital services “as usable as they are beautiful.”
Before that appointment, Gebbia worked with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, where he focused on outdated federal systems. One target was the retirement process for federal workers, which he criticized as too dependent on paper.
Calling the current system an “injustice to civil servants,” Gebbia said he wants to help replace it with a digital process that could reduce wait times from months to days.
“I’m going to do my best to upgrade our nation to the level of excellence that I feel like the United States deserves,” he said.
## A Political Shift With Built-In Pushback
Gebbia’s comments are likely to be welcomed by Trump supporters who see border enforcement as a core test of national sovereignty and public safety.
Democrats and immigration advocates would likely dispute the framing that the party supports an “open border,” arguing that the immigration system requires reform, resources and legal pathways, not just tougher enforcement. The source material, however, does not include a direct response from Democratic officials or immigrant-rights groups.
Gebbia also said he received “hate mail text messages” after working with the Trump administration, according to a social media post cited in the source material. He described that period as “depressing.”
His move from tech founder to federal reform adviser gives the story two political dimensions: a wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneur publicly breaking with Democrats, and a Trump-aligned effort to remake how citizens interact with government systems online.
Whether Gebbia’s work produces measurable improvements remains to be seen. But his comments show how border security continues to reshape political loyalties well beyond traditional Republican circles.
