Venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, who previously backed former President Donald Trump’s re-election bid, is now planning to make a “significant” donation to Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
Axios got the scoop on the about-face, which comes just months after Horowitz and his business partner, Marc Andreessen, made the case in a YouTube video that Trump was the best bet for the tech industry, especially cryptocurrency.
At that time, President Joe Biden was still running for re-election.
“It’s been tough,” Andreessen said in July. “This has been a brutal assault in a nascent industry that I’ve just… I’ve never experienced before… it’s been impossible to make progress in this with the White House.”
In the conversation with Andreesen, Horowitz made the unfounded claim that the Biden administration “subverted the rule of law to attack the crypto industry.”
“I mean, like, we’re dealing with that right now and this is probably the most emotional topic,” he said, without mentioning any other issue at stake come Nov. 5.
Once Harris entered the race in late July, Horowitz had a change of heart.
In an email he sent to Andreesen Horowitz employees on Friday, Horowitz shared that he and his wife, Felicia, have known Harris for over a decade and developed a friendship.
In fact, during the firm’s “early days,” Harris helped out with some events at his house.
Horowitz said he’s had some encouraging chats with the Democratic nominee about her tech policies.
“From a firm perspective, we continue to only take positions consistent with our Little Tech Agenda and how the various candidates that support or don’t support policies to build a strong startup technology industry,” Horowitz said.
Horowitz didn’t miss the opportunity to throw shade at the Biden administration, calling its tech policies “exceptionally destructive,” especially in areas like crypto, blockchain and artificial intelligence. So, while he’s hopeful that a Harris presidency will be a breath of fresh air, he’s still waiting to see if she’ll come through for the tech world.
Other venture capitalists have also announced support for Harris, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman OpenAI investor Ron Conway and Mark Cuban, minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
Billionaire Elon Musk, Sequoia Capital’s Shaun Maguire and the Winklevoss twins remain ardent supporters of Trump.
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