Who Did Hank Hill Vote for in the Last Three Presidential Elections?

I was impressed by the new season of King of the Hill. Despite being off the air (save for reruns) for 15 years, the show remained as funny and relevant as ever. It gave us the nuanced and complicated Arlen that we’ve all come to know and love, and brought it firmly into the 2020s. That doesn’t mean they tackled every issue that may seem new to the Hill Family patriarch, known as Hank, but they came close.

Episode three of the new season, titled Bobby Gets Grilled, found Hank, Peggy, and the Gribbles visiting the George W. Bush Presidential Library. There, Hank fawns over his favorite President and former co-owner of the Texas Rangers (who are currently making a crazy run at the playoffs). But he is confronted by a new era of the Republican Party that is fraught with conspiracy theories.

The episode was a great way to establish Hank’s place in the new world. The man is complicated. He has respect for pronouns and other people’s cultures, while being confused by all-gender bathrooms. He doesn’t think you should lie about Obama being from Kenya, because being born in Hawaii should give people more than enough reason not to vote for him.

Season 14 of King of the Hill doesn’t shy away from a lot, except for our current President. Hank Hill is a fictional character, so if a certain thing is not said about him, you can believe whatever you want. And when the creator of said character doesn’t have an answer to your question, you have to do the work yourself (if you want to). That’s the case with ole Hank.

Greg Daniels, who co-created the show with Mike Judge, was recently asked by the Hollywood Reporter if Hank voted for our current President. Daniels noted that Hank “would probably have some problems with a real estate billionaire from New York who has a gold toilet.” He didn’t stop there, however, as he went on to say, “I don’t know how he would vote now.”

That’s kind of how the show treated Hank as well, so it makes sense, but I think the answer is somewhat clear (to me), if not a little complicated. Hank is committed to the Republican Party, so he likely voted that way in 2016. I think Daniels is correct in that Hank would have issues with the former host of The Apprentice because he was from New York (and a host of other reasons), but hey, so is Hank.

Hank Hill was born in a bathroom at Yankee Stadium. There’s a whole episode about it. Part of the episode includes Hank realizing that being born in one of his least favorite places doesn’t make him any less of a Texan or an American. That’s part of Hank’s charm: he often grows. To that end, I could see him making a similar defense when going to the voting booth in 2016.

There is a lot more not to like about that year’s candidate for the GOP, but that doesn’t mean Hank didn’t square some things up in his head. Hank Hill is not a racist or a bigot (at least not intentionally), and I can absolutely see him bristling at some of our current President’s rhetoric. But he also thought that George W. Bush having a limp handshake was unjustifiable. Regardless, here we are decades later, and Hank fawns over the man.

2020 may have been a different story for a couple of reasons. Joe Biden feels more like the kind of left-wing politician Hank could get behind, if not strictly for his lengthy political record. Plus, if we’re following the show’s timeline, Hank would have been in Saudi Arabia at the time and could have voted via an absentee ballot, saving himself from any potential nerves or embarrassment.

2024? Let’s not pretend that the infamous attempted assassination and subsequent reaction wouldn’t have blown some wind under Hank’s sails. I think Hank is someone who would have taken January 6th personally, but plenty of people who did were still convinced years later that the man who caused it wouldn’t do so again. There’s certainly a world where Hank privately voted left again, but I doubt it.

There will be another season of King of the Hill, so maybe we’ll get some of the answers to these questions. They may also not be anything the show is interested in answering, and that’s fine too. Hank Hill is a good guy; he’s just complicated. The man contains multitudes. He came around to soccer for Christ’s sake! He can change, and that change may involve voting for a Democrat or a reprehensible New Yorker.