More than 215 venture capitalists on Wednesday pledged their support for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and asked fellow tech leaders to “show founders that not all VCs have turned MAGA.”
The group, which calls itself “VCs for Kamala,” features investors and entrepreneurs from a variety of established and rising funds, as well as other major tech leaders.
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Notable names including Marc Cuban, Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and billionaire Chris Sacca are part of the group. The more than a dozen “volunteers” who appear to be leading the group’s efforts include executives at major funds like Palantir — whose founder Peter Thiel is a major Republican party donor — and Graham & Walker.
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“We spend our days looking for, investing in and supporting entrepreneurs who are building the future. We are pro-business, pro-American dream, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-technological progress,” the group says on its website. “We also believe in democracy as the backbone of our nation,” and that strong and trustworthy institutions are vital for all industries, including venture capital.
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The new push highlights the growing divide in Silicon Valley, as executives and partners at major institutions pick sides ahead of the November election. Major tech leaders have aligned themselves with Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump, who chose venture capitalist and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate. Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly lobbied Trump to pick Vance, a former Thiel protégé.
Several prominent tech leaders, many of whom have ties to cryptocurrencies, have endorsed or financially supported Trump recently through aligned political action committees. That includes Elon Musk, the Winklevoss twins, and Andreessen Horowitz owners Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Musk, who has denied reports that he would donate tens of millions of dollars to Trump’s campaign, has led the development of a pro-Trump super PAC.
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David Marcus, the co-founder and CEO of Lightspark and a former Meta and Paypal executive, became the latest tech leader to back Trump on Wednesday. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he cited Trump’s stances on Bitcoin and immigration as reasons for his support.