More than 100 venture capitalists pledged Wednesday to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris—pitting themselves against a small, but vocal, group of Trump-aligned tech executives driving an emerging narrative that Silicon Valley is leaning to the right.
Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris makes a speech during her presidential campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia, United States on July 30, 2024. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Anadolu via Getty Images
Key Takeaways
- The venture capitalists who signed onto VCsForKamala.org, which directs visitors to Harris’ donation page, include billionaires like LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman (worth $2.5 billion according to Forbes’ estimates), Texas entrepreneur Mark Cuban ($5.4 billion), Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures ($7.5 billion), and Lowercase Capital’s Chris Sacca ($1.2 billion).
- They join other billionaires, including Melinda French Gates, Sheryl Sandberg, Reed Hastings, George Soros and Barry Diller, who previously backed Harris’ campaign.
- The pro-Harris VC effort also comes as a coalition of high-profile Silicon Valley executives, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks, are supporting Trump, fueling questions about whether the industry’s executives are still staunchly liberal—and prompting anti-Trump tech stakeholders to speak out against the notion.
- “They don’t speak for me . . . they don’t speak for most of us,” Leslie Feinzaig, founder of the firm Graham & Walker, and an organizer of VCsForKamala, told the New York Times, adding that “tweet after tweet of these guys coming out and supporting Trump” compelled the group to pledge their support for Harris.
Key Background
Harris’ entrance into the race has injected a new sense of optimism into the Democratic party, triggering a rush of donations, both major and small-dollar, and renewed support for the Democratic presidential campaign with her at the top of the ticket. She raised $200 million in the first week since launching her candidacy, the campaign said, and the pro-Harris super PAC Future Forward said it had received $150 million in commitments in the 24 hours after Biden dropped out of the race, Politico reported. Meanwhile, some key Democratic donors like Hoffman have promised to support Harris. Before Biden ended his campaign on July 21 and after his June 27 debate with Trump, Future Forward donors froze $90 million in commitments, the New York Times reported, while several wealthy donors, including billionaire Mark Pincus, Christy Walton, Michael Novogratz and Reed Hastings called on Biden to step aside in the race.
Tangent
Prominent venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have both said they intend to donate to pro-Trump PACs, joining tech billionaires, including Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, crypto kingpins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and venture capitalists Antonio Gracias and Douglas Leone who have already given to support Trump’s campaign, The Financial Times reported. Sacks hosted a $12 million fundraiser for Trump at his San Francisco home in June, and Musk has publicly endorsed Trump, though he has denied reports that he will contribute $45 million a month to a pro-Trump super PAC.
