Hollywood vs Silicon Valley: The Kamala Harris and Donald Trump Fundraising Battle

Kamala vs Donald pits Hollywood hawties against Silicon Valley bros? - Times of India

WASHINGTON: Deep-pocketed Democratic donors, many from Hollywood, have lifted their "Dembargo" after Prez Biden made way for a Kamala Harris nomination, resulting in a $100-million-plus political donation bonanza on Monday, said to be the largest one-day haul in US presidential election history. There is a quiet, hidden reason for the surge of support for Kamala from the entertainment world -- she is a Hollywood insider, partly on account of her husband Doug Emhoff, formerly an entertainment industry attorney who has represented many Hollywood clients. Although she grew up in one of the less privileged sections of Oakland, near San Francisco, the couple now own a$5 million home in a secluded corner of Brentwood, near Los Angeles, putting her closer to Hollywood than to her former digs near Silicon Valley. Their neighbours include Gwyneth Paltrow, LeBron James, Gisele Bundchen and Dr Dre. Indeed, Hollywood elites, many of whom sat on the sidelines despairing about an aging Biden candidacy, are now scrambling back to support Kamala. George Clooney, whose NYT OpEd last week urging Biden to bow out rattled Democrats and gave voice to a Hollywood hol dout, welcomed the handover: "We're all so excited to do whatever we can to support vice-prez Harris in her historic quest." Hollywood honchos are also chuffed about the prospect of the first prez from California -- and Los Angeles -- since Ronald Reagan in 1980. "Literally overnight, big-dollar Hollywood Democratic donors who'd been nervously sitting on their cheque books since Joe Biden's June 27 debate debacle have been lining up to shower millions on the hometown girl," the Hollywood Reporter said Monday. The song and dance over Kamala's elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket was heard when she walked in to the campaign headquarters on Monday to Beyonce's song "Freedom". Among others, celebrities from rapper Cardi B to Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis to TV producer Shonda Rhimes to director Spike Lee and singer Barbara Streisand endorsed Kamala as the new Democratic nominee for the White House. The Hollywood hooting for Kamala comes even as her opponent, Donald Trump, has made new inroads into Silicon Valley, formerly a Democratic stronghold like the rest of the state, and represented by Indian-American Congressmen Ro Khanna. Riding on the disillusionment of Tesla's Elon Musk with the "wokism" of the left, and support from his mentor Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist and founder of PayPal, Trump has been tapping into "tech bros" who are looking in to less govt regulation, including in new areas like AI. Musk himself is said to have pledged $45 million a month to the Trump campaign -- something which the former prez boasted about at a rally in Michigan. But Hollywood honchos are said to be ready to counter any Silicon Valley sell-out to Trump, although Democrats still have majority support in the area. "There's a shitload of money here in Hollywood, as well as a lot of disdain for these tech bros, and I think you'll see people putting up a lot of dough just to teach these dudes they can't buy an election," a Democratic consultant was quoted telling the Hollywood Reporter.

Kamala v Don pits Hollywood hawties v Silicon Valley Bros? - Times of India

WASHINGTON: Deep-pocketed Democratic donors, many from Hollywood, have lifted their "Dembargo" after President Joe Biden made way for a Kamala Harris nomination, resulting in a $ 100million plus political donation bonanza on Monday, said to be the largest one-day haul in US presidential election history. There is a quiet, hidden reason for the surge of support for Kamala from the entertainment world -- she is a Hollywood insider, partly on account of her husband Doug Emhoff, formerly an entertainment industry attorney who has represented many Hollywood clients. Although she grew up in one of the less privileged section of Oakland, near San Francisco, the couple now own a $ 5million home in a secluded corner of Brentwood, near Los Angeles, putting her closer to Hollywood than to her former digs near Silicon Valley. Their neighbors include Gwyneth Paltrow, LeBron James, Gisele Bündchen and Dr. Dre. Indeed, Hollywood elites, many of whom sat on the sidelines despairing about an aging Biden candidacy, are now scrambling back to support Kamala. The actor George Clooney, whose NYT OpEd last week urging Biden to bow out rattled Democrats and gave voice to a Hollywood hold out, welcomed the handover, saying, "We're all so excited to do whatever we can to support Vice President Harris in her historic quest." Hollywood honchos are also chuffed about the prospect of the first President from California -- and Los Angeles -- since Ronald Reagan in 1980. "Literally overnight, big-dollar Hollywood Democratic donors who'd been nervously sitting on their checkbooks since Joe Biden's June 27 debate debacle have been lining up to shower millions on the hometown girl who rather unexpectedly now finds herself poised to be the Democratic Party's nominee for president," the Hollywood Reporter said on Monday. The song and dance over Kamala's elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket was heard when she walked in to the campaign headquarters on Monday to Beyonce's song Freedom. Among others, celebrities from rapper Cardi B to Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis to TV producer Shonda Rhimes to director Spike Lee and singer Barbara Streisand endorsed Kamala as the new Democratic nominee for the White House. The Hollywood hooting for Kamala comes even as her opponent former President Donald Trump had made new inroads into Silicon Valley, formerly a Democratic stronghold like the rest of the state, and represented by Indian-American Congressmen Ro Khanna. Riding on the disillusionment of Tesla's Elon Musk with the "wokism" of the left, and support from his mentor Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist and founder of PayPal, Trump has been tapping into "tech bros" who are looking into less government regulation, including in new areas like Artificial Intelligence. Musk himself is said to have pledged $ 45million a month to the Trump campaign -- something which the former President boasted about at a rally in Michigan. But Hollywood honchos are said to be ready to counter any Silicon Valley sell-out to Trump, although Democrats still have majority support in the area. "Look, it's no secret that Hollywood has never been very fond of these guys....There's a shitload of money here in Hollywood, as well as a lot of disdain for these tech bros, and I think you'll see people putting up a lot of dough just to teach these dudes they can't buy an election," a Democratic consultant was quoted telling the Hollywood Reporter.

Can Kamala Harris Win Over Silicon Valley Leaders?

The deep-pocketed tech industry of Silicon Valley has historically voted for Democrats. But in the last month, a cadre of tech executives has risen up for Donald Trump, both on the grounds that he will be friendlier to the industry and that President Joe Biden was unfit to serve a second term. But now that Biden has dropped out of the race and the Democratic Party seems to be coalescing around Kamala Harris, a battle for Silicon Valley's affection -- and donations -- could ensue. Harris is from Oakland, and many people perceived her tenure as California's attorney general as favorable toward the tech industry. Now Silicon Valley appears to be split -- and debates will play out both on social media and in tech offices for the months to come. It would take a seismic shift for Silicon Valley to actually turn red. In 2020, Santa Clara County, which contains most of Silicon Valley, voted 73 percent for Biden and 25 percent for Trump. (The 2016 numbers were very similar.)And a recent WIRED analysis 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 voices in tech have loudly thrown their lot in with Trump, especially since his assassination attempt. Elon Musk and his associate David Sacks have been active on social media in rallying support among tech executives and have been pumping millions into a Super PAC for Trump's campaign. The crypto 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 denounced the Biden administration's more aggressive approach to tech and crypto regulation, and said that he is backing Trump after supporting Democrats through most election cycles, including in 2016. And many tech moguls have been further energized by Trump's vice presidential pick of J.D Vance, who has deep Silicon Valley ties, including working for Peter Thiel. Sacks and the tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya even personally lobbied Trump to pick Vance at a $300,000-a-person dinner, the New York Times reported. Read More: How the Crypto World Learned to Love Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Project 2025 But Harris's history with Silicon Valley could stem the tide. In recent months, many Silicon Valley Democrats sat on the sidelines as Biden's campaign lost steam: the entrepreneur and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman told WIRED that tech mega-donors had been withholding their donations due to the "turmoil." But Hoffman sprang back into action following Biden's exit, calling Harris "the right person at the right time." Many others immediately joined him: Harris raised over $50 million in less than 24 hours after Biden's announcement. Hoffman is one of many Silicon Valley powerhouses who supported Harris during her 2020 presidential campaign, due to her connections with the industry stemming from her time as California's attorney general. Her 2020 donors 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 critics argue she did little to stop. In 2012, she forged an agreement with Big Tech titans over privacy protections for smartphone owners, which was largely cheered by the industry. The following year, she participated in the marketing campaign for Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In while being the law enforcement official responsible for overseeing Facebook. In contrast, she did wield her position to take an active role in pressuring platforms to ban revenge pornography. And the Biden administration has actually been marked by a hostile relationship with Big Tech, with Biden appointee Lina Khan attempting to use her position at the FTC to break up monopolies. (In a strange twist, J.D. Vance has expressed approval 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?" 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, wrote on X 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, wrote on X that Democratic delegates "need to pick a swing state winner." The venture capitalist Vinod Khosla agreed -- and said that although he believed Harris could beat Trump, he called for an open convention. "I want an open process at the convention and not a coronation," he wrote. "The key still is who can best beat Trump above all other priorities."

Left-leaning Silicon Valley donors divided on Kamala Harris: 'I want...

Vice President Kamala Harris's rise to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket has sparked a rift among the tech industry's biggest left-leaning donors - even as a growing number of Silicon Valley bigwigs throw their support behind GOP nominee Donald Trump. While Biden quickly endorsed Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee, some deep-pocketed donors in the tech industry appear skeptical of her ability to win the race - and have argued the party should embrace an open convention. "I want an open process at the convention and not a coronation," famed tech investor Vinod Khosla wrote on X. "They key still is who can best beat Trump above all other priorities." The Khosla Ventures boss tagged Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, adding it "would be a great thing for America not held hostage between MAGA extremists and DEI extremism. Unique opportunity for a better moderate path." Whitmer, however, has since taken herself out of the running, announcing Monday that she endorsed Harris and would serve as co-chair of her campaign. Shapiro on Monday also signaled his support for Harris. Netflix executive chairman Reed Hastings said the Democratic Party was "back in the game" after Biden stepped aside. However, he did not immediately endorse Harris. "Dem delegates need to pick a swing state winner," Hastings wrote on X. Hastings had ramped up the pressure on Biden earlier this month after he publicly stated he would withhold further donations unless another Democrat replaced him. Mike Novogratz, the founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings and a cryptocurrency billionaire, also called for a competitive nomination process. "Donors behind the scenes are saying, who's the best ticket to win?" Novogratz told the New York Times. "And the donor community I speak to doesn't think she's the best to win, but everybody thinks she deserves a fair chance." On the other hand, Harris gained a key endorsement from Democratic mega-donor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who described the vice president as "the right person at the right time." "When presented with the choice between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, I believe in the American people to make the right decision for our country," Hoffman said. Alex Soros, the son and heir of liberal billionaire George Soros, also backed Harris's bid, calling her the "best and most qualified candidate." In the past, Harris has received political support from former Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Neither has said if they endorse her as the 2024 Democratic nominee. President Biden upended the 2024 election by dropping out of the presidential race on Sunday - a move came after his disastrous performance at a debate last month led key Democratic leaders and donors to call for his exit. With the Democratic party in disarray, Silicon Valley has seen a shift toward Trump this election cycle. Tesla boss Elon Musk, investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale are among those betting that the Republican will adopt a friendlier approach toward tech innovation, including budding fields like cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. Last week, Trump named JD Vance - a venture capitalist and protégé of PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel - as his running mate. "My smartest friends, including those living in the San Francisco Bay Area who have been lifelong Dems, are excited about Trump/Vance," Musk wrote on X after Biden made his announcement. "I believe in an America that maximizes individual freedom and merit," Musk added. "That used to be the Democratic Party, but now the pendulum has swung to the Republican Party."