Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said her focus on education helped her win reelection during a difficult midterm for Republicans. On Friday’s episode of “Real Time,” she defended the state’s free school breakfast program after host Bill Maher asked why similar policies are sometimes called socialism when Democrats support them.
“We focused on issues over the last four years that really impacted the day-to-day lives of the people we were elected to serve,” Sanders said. She added that education had been a priority from the start of her term and that Arkansas had made significant changes to its schools.
Sanders pointed to literacy coaches, expanded school choice, higher teacher pay and free breakfasts for public school students as parts of the state’s education effort. She said the breakfast program was a bipartisan way to make sure children weren’t trying to learn while hungry.
“But how come it’s only socialism when they do it?” Maher asked, referring to Democrats.
Sanders said providing meals to students was different from giving everything away for free. “There’s a big difference between giving everything away for free and helping kids start out on the right foot,” she said. Maher later clarified that he supported the initiative.
Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff said the exchange highlighted what he sees as a partisan double standard: government assistance is often criticized as socialism when Democrats propose it, but described as common sense when Republicans do. He added that voters may care less about abstract arguments over government than whether a policy visibly improves their lives.
The conversation also turned to Sanders’ support for President Donald Trump. Maher suggested that she sometimes disagrees with Trump on policy but avoids criticizing him, even when his approach differs from hers as governor.
Sanders rejected the idea that she was blindly loyal to the president. She said she supported and appreciated Trump for giving her an opportunity, but didn’t agree with everything he did. “Does that mean I think he does everything right? No. Neither do I,” she said.
Sanders, who has been governor since 2023, won reelection earlier this month by 15 points over Democratic candidate Fred Love. Her victory came as Democrats made gains in several states, including some that are traditionally Republican or considered competitive.
