SAN FRANCISCO — With 97 days until the election, billionaire investor Reid Hoffman is focused on one thing: getting Kamala Harris into the Oval Office.
Since Biden dropped out of the race, the LinkedIn co-founder said he has spent most of his waking hours on the phone, putting his work as an investor on the back burner as he marshals his elite circle of Silicon Valley urging them to pour money and influence into the vice president.
Hoffman’s efforts put him at odds with tech industry executives who supported former President Donald Trump, sparking a political rethink in the overwhelmingly Democratic region. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz and Sequoia partner Doug Leone have all been very vocal in their support of Trump in recent weeks, signaling a shift to the right in Silicon Valley, while other tech leaders have been energized by Harris’ emergence as Biden’s successor.
As it revs up its networks, speaks out against Trump and prepares for a fierce public battle, this longtime Democratic stronghold is facing something new: rival political camps throwing their names, organizational muscle and money at the opposition.
“This is a growing wave,” Hoffman told The Washington Post in an interview. “I think there are already more voices and more prominent people in the Kamala Harris camp who are supporting Trump than there are voices supporting him.”
A coalition of Silicon Valley leaders is scrambling for a new Democratic candidate. Former Meta chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said in an Instagram post that she was “thrilled” to endorse Harris. Angel investor Ron Conway called on the tech community to unite behind Harris in his “unwavering” support. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings (one of the friends Hoffman called this week) donated $7 million to a PAC supporting Harris. Philanthropist Melinda Gates also said she supports the vice president because she has an “inspiring vision for America.”
Money from Bay Area executives had begun to dry up as donors grew increasingly worried about Biden’s viability as president, said Andrew Burns, Ms. Harris’ longtime campaign fundraiser, but he said she made good on the hundreds of thousands of dollars that came in for Ms. Harris in the past week — double the amount she raised for Mr. Biden in more than a year.
“When the president decided to suspend his campaign, I felt relieved and excited that there was a path forward,” he said, “and I also felt a sense of urgency that we had to get this done.”
The fight for the White House has caused a rift in a tech industry where many of its powerful figures grew up together and made fortunes building some of the world’s biggest internet companies. It has torn apart decades of friendships and business alliances, sparked ugly brawls on social media and unearthed old tensions over sex, race and civil rights that were first laid bare during Trump’s 2016 campaign.
While Democratic tech leaders largely viewed the Barack Obama administration as an ally, the Biden administration has angered many in the tech industry with its tough regulatory approach to megamergers and increased scrutiny of artificial intelligence. Cryptocurrency investors have accused Biden of targeting their industry.
Still, Trump’s sudden surge in support came as a shock to some who believe the election is more important than industry interests. Merci Grace, a former partner at investment firm Lightspeed Venture Partners, said she was shocked to see two friends who work in venture capital publicly support Trump, in part because of his campaign’s business-friendly approach to technology.
After years of trying unsuccessfully to have a child, Grace underwent emergency surgery to remove a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy in 2022. A nationwide abortion ban — a policy previously supported by Trump’s vice presidential nominee, J.D. Vance — could make it harder for people to access vital medical care.
“I literally cried that day,” Grace said. “It felt like they were willing to trade my life for money.”
For Lily Lambo, a former San Francisco tech manager, the Silicon Valley discourse revealed a familiar divide: those who support Trump to protect their company’s interests and those who back Democrats on social issues like abortion.
“I think that’s been the case for years, but the fact that people are actually sympathetic to Trump has just felt so weird and made so much sense to me,” she said. Finally, people are “speaking the quiet parts out loud.”
A battle is brewing among the elites on X, breaking previous norms of respect between people with a common history and love of technology.
Hoffman said investor David Sachs was upset by a number of online posts praising people who spoke out against Biden. To Hoffman, who once served as an executive with Sachs at PayPal, the comments were a personal affront. “Now, you’re going to show integrity now and speak out against Trump?” Hoffman said. “Take the integrity challenge on your own terms.” Sachs did not respond to a request for comment.
Personal disputes have also erupted among billionaires online. Last week, Mr. Musk, the owner of X, posted on X to mock Vinod Khosla, an investor, Democratic donor and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, urging him to support Mr. Trump.
Come on, Vinod. Trump/Vance LFG!!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2024
“It’s hard for me to support someone who has no values, who lies, cheats, rapes, degrades women, and hates immigrants like me,” Khosla responded. “He may cut my taxes or reduce regulations, but that’s no reason to accept the degradation of his personal values.”
Scott McNealy, Khosla’s co-founder at Sun Microsystems and a Republican donor, agreed, saying he knows both Trump and Khosla well and believes the two “will agree on a lot of important issues.”
Khosla responded by saying that his former partner’s comparison to Trump made him “want to puke.” (“Stop bringing family values into this,” Khosla’s managing partner, Shernaz Davar, who once worked for both men, blasted McNeely. “You shouldn’t be doing this!”)
Trump supporters like Horowitz and Andreessen argue that the former president would cut regulation and spur innovation and growth in the tech industry. Trump was skeptical of cryptocurrencies during his presidency, but has since grown closer to the industry, proposing a complete repeal of AI regulations during a keynote speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, The Washington Post reported earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Trump has criticized Big Tech and accused them of bias. He has specifically targeted Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, saying he opposes banning TikTok in the U.S. because it would help Meta’s social media sites Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg banned Trump from Facebook after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“The swing of some of the biggest tech companies to Trump highlights evolving dynamics within the tech industry that are being driven by regulatory changes, tax policies, economic strategies and perhaps cultural shifts,” said Wendy Anderson, a senior Defense Department official during the Obama administration who is now senior vice president at Palantir but spoke in her personal capacity.
Harris will likely lead Biden’s efforts to regulate the AI industry, continuing the current administration’s approach, but some Silicon Valley leaders believe her ties to the region as California’s former attorney general could help restore some of the relationships and goodwill that existed during the Obama administration.
Hoffman said his firm is constrained by the Biden administration’s approach. He said he hasn’t spoken to Harris but would offer his opinion as an “expert” separate from his actions as a donor.
“There’s a culture in Silicon Valley that says, ‘Technology is very important to creating the future,'” Hoffman said. “That’s one of the reasons Silicon Valley was so receptive to Obama, because he made that very clear.”
“We need to bring back that vibrancy,” he added.
