Elizabeth Banks says she can’t wrap her head around White women who voted for Trump over Kamala Harris
“Hunger Games” star Elizabeth Banks was left dumbfounded that 53 percent of white women voted for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, while hoping more would become “revolutionaries” mimicking her dystopian character.
The 52-year-old actress invoked her glammed-up on-screen role of “Effie Trinket” as the ideal persona for fighting fascism, while comparing Trump to the child-murdering totalitarian regime from the novels and movie franchise.
“Effie is the model, guys. I don’t understand the 53% of white ladies that didn’t vote for Kamala. What were you thinking?” Banks said on Bustle’s “One Nightstand” podcast.
The majority vote from white women combined with additional voting surges to hand Trump a resounding victory over Vice President Kamala Harris to return to the White House.
Banks reveled in her character’s development over the course of the four-film franchise, as she hoped it could be replicated in real life.
Elizabeth Banks attends Peacock’s “The Miniature Wife” premiere at DGA Theater Complex on April 6, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. FilmMagic
“Effie for me is one of the characters that has the greatest arc that I’ve ever played because obviously she props up this fascist regime that she benefits from,” Banks said, referring to Trinket’s role as the fashionable mouthpiece of the rich and powerful in the capital of Panem.
“It’s not until she really comes to care for and see how unfair it is when they want to pull Katniss and Peta into the games again,” Banks added, according to Variety.
Effie — who was introduced as the glamorous escort for the tributes of the poor, coal-mining District 12 — would eventually join the rebellion after losing her power and status and seeing the propaganda machine working against the working-class citizens.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with a girl at Crave restaurant ahead of a South Carolina Democratic Party fundraiser on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Greenville, SC. AP
“I think in ‘Catching Fire’ when she’s like, ‘I want to be part of this team,’ and you really see her struggling and then by the end she’s like a revolutionary … I wish more of us were becoming revolutionaries!” she said.
Banks was a staunch supporter of Harris’ failed presidential campaign, having joined at least one campaign event, Harris’ Reproductive Freedom Bus in Las Vegas, to campaign for abortion access.
President Trump spoke to members of the media outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC. Salwan Georges / Pool via CNP / SplashNews.com
She also prematurely called the election for the then-Democratic candidate, not knowing the outcome at the polls.
“19 DAYS until we elect @kamalaharris President of the United States! I joined my friends at @reproforallnv yesterday and jumped on Kamala’s Reproductive Freedom Bus in Las Vegas,” she had written on Instagram.
In 2016, while supporting Hillary Clinton’s doomed campaign for the White House, Banks had used her popular “Hunger Games” character to hype up the crowd at the Democratic National Convention.
“Some of you know me from ‘The Hunger Games,’ in which I play a cruel, out-of-touch reality TV star who wears insane wigs while delivering long-winded speeches to a violent dystopia,” Banks said.
“So when I tuned in to Cleveland last week, I was like, ‘Hey, that’s my act,’” she said, referring to Trump’s acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
