Kamala Harris’ allies in the tech industry have reportedly been lobbying behind the scenes for wealthy donors’ support since President Joe Biden bowed out of the race on Sunday — and they are on track to raise $100 million, according to a report.
Harris’ campaign said it smashed records, raising $81 million in donations in the 24 hours after Biden dropped out – making it the “largest 24-hour raise in presidential history.”
Now, some of the vice president’s allies are allegedly racing to get the tech community on her side in time to catch up with former President Donald Trump’s campaign, CNBC reported according to people familiar with the matter.
Venture capitalists Reid Hoffman – a co-founder of LinkedIn and one of the founding investors in OpenAI – and Ron Conway – described as one of Silicon Valley’s “super angels” – have been privately calling for Silicon Valley bigwigs to support Harris’ campaign, anonymous sources told CNBC.
Conway has allegedly tried to recruit fellow venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz to Harris’ side – despite the two having already seemingly cemented their support for Trump.
The co-founders and partners at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz – founded in 2009 and based in California – allegedly told employees in early July that they planned to make large donations to Trump PACs, The Information first reported.
That pledge comes despite the investors’ claims that they have been lifelong Dem supporters and are friends with liberals.
Meanwhile, Hoffman persuaded Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to donate $7 million to a Harris super PAC, according to The Information. The billionaire Netflix chairman said it was his largest donation for a single candidate yet.
Shortly after Biden announced he was backing out of the race, Hastings said “Dem delegates need to pick a swing state winner” – perhaps hinting at a call for an open convention or new Dem face.
Yet on Tuesday, Hastings posted on X again: “Congrats to Kamala Harris — now it is time to win.”
Hoffman and Conway are reportedly on track to raise more than $100 million from big tech donors for Harris’ campaign, super PACs and dark money groups, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Both venture capitalists endorsed the vice president on X soon after Biden left the race.
Hoffman lauded the Democratic party as “the party of policy, progress, and action” while Conway issued a call to action: “The tech community must come together to defeat Donald Trump and save our democracy by uniting behind Vice President @KamalaHarris as the Democratic nominee for President.”
Harris’ allies have argued that she will be more amenable to business industry leaders, though a large part of Trump’s campaign remains his decades-long real estate career.
Harris’ views on tech regulations are somewhat murky.
The vice president hosted four major CEOs – Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai – at the White House to “share concerns about the risks associated with AI,” according to the White House.
But in March, Harris said the Biden administration does not “intend to ban TikTok” – the controversial Chinese-owned social media company that often spits out AI-generated content.
Then in late April, Biden signed a national security package that included a provision to ban the ByteDance-owned app. The ban would not go into effect until after the 2024 presidential election.
The potential TikTok ban has loomed over lawmakers for years.
As president, Trump tried to ban the app in 2020.
Like Harris, he has ping-ponged on the matter.
Trump recently told Bloomberg BusinessWeek that he is “for TikTok because you need competition.” The comment is a dig at Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who runs TikTok rivals Facebook and Instagram, since Trump reportedly doesn’t want to make things too easy for the social media billionaire.
Despite Biden, Harris and Trump issuing attacks on TikTok over the past few years, all three have had campaign accounts on the app to appeal to young voters.
Aside from social media concerns, there is also crypto – and tech investors are hesitant on Harris’ views.
Many in crypto have bet big on Trump, hoping the former president will relax industry oversight.
Crypto and AI players have complained that Biden’s administration has focused too heavily on industry regulation and has blocked beneficial legislation.
Bitcoin shares soared soon after Trump was shot in an assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania rally, as Trump’s odds at beating Biden seemed to increase and many assumed the former president would lessen industry regulations in office.
Tech giants like Elon Musk have pledged their support for the former president. Musk endorsed Trump on X immediately after the assassination attempt. While Musk said he will be donating to the America PAC, he denied media reports that he would be donating $45 million a month to a Trump super PAC.
Harris’ views on crypto and AI are still largely unclear, and it has yet to be seen if the tech industry will be persuaded to switch sides once more.
