JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, has had a long, collaborative relationship with GOP donor and Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, one that has aided Vance from his time in venture capital to his role as an Ohio senator.
Thiel is a PayPal co-founder. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)
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Key Takeaways
- Vance and Thiel’s relationship dates back to 2011, when the senator met Thiel following a talk the venture capitalist gave at Yale Law School that Vance has characterized as “the most significant moment of my time” at the institution, according to a blog post he wrote for Catholic magazine The Lamp.
- Vance began planning for a career pivot outside of law following the talk, noting Thiel was “possibly the smartest person” he ever met and that Thiel’s Christian faith “defied the social template I had constructed—that dumb people were Christians and smart ones atheists,” according to the post.
- Thiel later became a “pretty good mentor” to Vance, according to The Washington Post, with Vance making the switch to venture capital and joining the Thiel-co-founded Mithril Capital in 2015 as a partner, according to Politico.
- Vance published “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” in 2016 while still working for Mithril Capital, thrusting the venture capitalist into the limelight as he began pondering a potential run for office in the future, according to the Post.
- Vance left Mithril Capital in 2017 and joined Washington D.C.-based investment firm Revolution as a managing director to invest in startups outside of major hubs like Silicon Valley and New York City.
- Vance launched his own venture capital firm in 2019 under the name Narya Capital, which sought to invest in startups in overlooked cities and reportedly received backing from Thiel and other billionaire investors like venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Axios reported.
- Thiel also reportedly brought Vance, who had established himself as a critic of Trump, to Mar-a-Lago in 2021 to smooth over his relationship with the former president, according to The New York Times.
- Following the meeting, Vance became more sympathetic to Trump and his policies, downplaying the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and securing an endorsement from the former president in his 2022 Senate run just weeks before Election Day.
- Vance garnered more support from Thiel during his successful Senate run in 2022, receiving record-breaking donations of about $15 million from Thiel, which marked the largest amount of money donated to a single Senate candidate ever.
- Most of Vance’s campaign advertising was outsourced to the Protect Ohio Values super PAC that Thiel donated to, Politico reported, noting Thiel helped recruit about 10 major donors for Vance including venture capitalist David Sacks, who donated $1 million.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Peter Thiel’s net worth at $7.9 billion—largely thanks to his role as one of Facebook’s earliest investors, as well as his work as a general partner of venture capital firm Founders Fund, which is a key investor in Stripe and SpaceX. Thiel has also invested millions into Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition software firm.
Tangent
Thiel’s backing appeared to be a massive difference-maker for Vance’s 2022 Senate run, as the then-candidate lacked a funding edge over his fellow candidates and had made a litany of anti-Trump comments years before, calling the former president “reprehensible,” “cynical” and privately suggested he could be “America’s Hitler.” Vance walked back his comments in the leadup to Election Day and managed to secure an endorsement from Trump, who later said Vance “gets it now, and I have seen that in spades.”
Crucial Quote
Thiel said during an interview at the Aspen Ideas Festival last month, “You hold a gun to my head, I’ll vote for Trump.” The comment seemingly showed reluctant support for Trump, as Thiel said if he was asked to make a pro-Trump argument, he would not, though he could “probably come up with anti-Biden arguments.” Thiel also noted he would not donate money to Trump and that he believes the former president will win in November. Thiel donated more than $1 million to Trump in 2016.
What Is Peter Thiel’s Connection To Donald Trump?
Thiel was one of Trump’s most significant donors in 2016 and has expressed a sort of reluctant support for the former president, backing congressional candidates who have echoed Trump-sourced conspiracy theories and later withdrawing further financial support for Trump. Thiel told The Atlantic last year there were a lot of things he “got wrong” with his support for the former president in 2016. Thiel’s political ideology rests in disbelief of establishment institutions and criticism of progressive elites. He also has pushed for more restrictions at the border. Meanwhile, Vance has more closely aligned his politics with Trump’s, opposing nationally guaranteed abortion rights, pushing against strict gun laws and prioritizing the fight against inflation. However, Trump and Vance do not see eye to eye on everything, including their levels of public support for Project 2025.
Key Background
Thiel, who is also a co-founder of the CIA-backed analytics firm Palantir, has given millions of dollars in donations largely to Republican lawmakers and political action committees since 2010, occasionally donating to Democrats such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., according to campaign finance tracker OpenSecrets. Thiel has donated $20 million to the Saving Arizona PAC, which supported venture capitalist Blake Masters during a failed Republican Senate run in 2022. Masters is now running as an Arizona congressional candidate. Thiel has also donated thousands of dollars to Republican lawmakers such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas. and former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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