Can Kamala Harris Win Over Silicon Valley, Which Has Embraced Donald Trump?

Kamala Harris

The tech-heavy Silicon Valley has traditionally supported Democrats. However, in recent times, a group of tech executives have expressed their support for Donald Trump, believing he’ll be more favorable to the industry and that President Joe Biden is unfit for a second term. 

With Biden withdrawing from the race and the Democratic Party seemingly rallying behind Kamala Harris, a battle for Silicon Valley’s favor—and financial contributions—could emerge. Harris hails from Oakland and her tenure as California’s attorney general was perceived positively by the tech industry. Now, Silicon Valley appears to be —and debates will play out both on social media and in tech offices for the months to come. 

Trump is backed by Elon, other major tech leaders

For Silicon Valley to actually shift its support to the Republican party would require a significant change. In 2020, Santa Clara County, where most of Silicon Valley is located, 73 percent for Biden and 25 percent for Trump. (The were very similar.)And a recent of campaign contributions found that the venture industry seems to actually be donating to Democrats at a higher rate this cycle than in years past. 

But some of the most influential figures in tech have publicly aligned themselves with Trump, especially since his . Elon Musk and his associate David Sacks have been actively promoting Trump’s candidacy on social media and have invested millions into a for Trump’s campaign. 

The cryptocurrency industry, in particular, has embraced Trump, who is scheduled to speak at a Bitcoin conference this weekend. Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of the prominent VC firm a16z, has criticized the Biden administration’s more aggressive stance on tech and crypto regulation, and said that he is after supporting Democrats in most election cycles,.

And many tech moguls have been further encouraged by Trump’s vice presidential pick of J.D. Vance, who has strong connections to Silicon Valley, including his work for Peter Thiel. Sacks and the tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya even personally lobbied Trump to choose Vance at a $300,000-a-person dinner, . 

But Harris has a long history with Silicon Valley

However, Harris’s past relationship with Silicon Valley could turn the tide. In recent months, many Silicon Valley Democrats were hesitant to support Biden’s campaign as it lost momentum: the entrepreneur and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman that tech mega-donors had been holding back their donations due to the “turmoil.” But Hoffman re-engaged following Biden’s withdrawal, “the right person at the right time.” Many others immediately followed suit: Harris over $50 million in less than 24 hours after Biden’s announcement. 

Hoffman is Silicon Valley powerhouses who backed Harris during her 2020 presidential campaign, due to her connections with the industry from her time as California’s attorney general. Her 2020 included Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff (who also owns TIME Magazine), Amazon general counsel David Zapolsky, and Microsoft president Brad Smith. 

Some observers, in turn, argued that Harris was too favorable to the industry while attorney general. Her time as AG was marked by a mass consolidation in tech towards a few hyper-power companies, which she did little to stop. In 2012, she forged an agreement with Big Tech giants over privacy protections for smartphone owners, which was by the . The following year, she in the marketing campaign for Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In while being the law enforcement official responsible for overseeing Facebook. 

In contrast, she did use her position to take an active role in And the Biden administration has actually been characterized by a hostile relationship with Big Tech, with Biden appointee attempting to use her position at the FTC to break up monopolies. (In a strange twist, J.D. Vance has of Khan’s efforts to rein in Big Tech.) Given this trajectory, it’s unclear how friendly Harris will be to the tech industry if she were to assume power. 

“Kamala Harris built very close ties to the California-centric Big Tech industry, but much has changed in the last four years,” says Jeff Hauser, the executive director of the Revolving Door Project. “So it’ll be a question of: was she deeply committed to Big Tech, or was that just kind of like, a home state Senator with a home state industry taking the easy way out?” 

Some tech execs want an open convention

Then there are those in tech leadership who want to support a Democratic candidate, but are calling for the Democrats to select someone who might have a wider appeal to their industry. Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box, that following Biden stepping down, the Democrats could gain votes by becoming the party that is “wildly pro tech, trade, entrepreneurship, immigration, AI.”

Reed Hastings, the executive chairman of Netflix, Democratic delegates “need to pick a swing state winner.” The venture capitalist Vinod Khosla —and said that although he , he called for an open convention. “I want an open process at the convention and not a coronation,” he . “The key still is who can best beat Trump above all other priorities.”