Clash of the tech titans: Silicon Valley fractures over Harris vs Trump

Kamala Harris supporter and chief executive of the cloud-computing company Box, Aaron Levie, suggested investor David Sacks must be high on cough syrup for supporting Trump.

Green tech investors who admired Musk are calling him a traitor to the cause for siding with Trump.

An extraordinary public war of words is brewing in Silicon Valley as some of the biggest names in technology take shots at former friends and colleagues in the run-up to the presidential election.

This kind of infighting has been rare in previous presidential elections as the tech industry has historically leaned left. During this election, a small and influential group of leaders—including Musk—have opened their wallets to support Trump and have become increasingly vocal about switching party lines, triggering backlash from others who have historically kept quiet about their politics.

The political divide is souring business relationships and testing old friendships.

“Silicon Valley is very tense right now because there are two opposing camps of individuals who do business together," said Sam Singer, a public-relations expert who has run campaigns for Democratic politicians. “This is an unusual situation," he added.

Democrats’ efforts were invigorated as Harris—who is from the San Francisco Bay Area—became the presidential candidate. The vice president attended a fundraiser co-hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman in San Francisco a few weeks ago, raising more than $13 million.

Harris’s tech supporters say her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention held an unexpected bonus.

She talked about providing opportunities and capital not only to small-business owners but also to founders and entrepreneurs. She also spoke about the importance of innovation and the need to lead in areas like artificial intelligence. Her backers interpreted this to mean that she would support tech-friendly policies.

Industry executives backing Trump reacted with skepticism on social media. Some sought to play up independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement of Trump.

“Dream team," Sacks tweeted with a picture of the two men shaking hands.

“One of those dreams when you took NyQuil," Box CEO Levie shot back.

“You swooned because a nominee who never got a single vote and won’t do an interview read the word ‘founder’ from a teleprompter. Sit down," Sacks retorted.

Trump’s tech supporters worry that Harris will raise taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations and impose regulatory bottlenecks on emerging industries like crypto. They also say Trump will end the heightened scrutiny on mergers and acquisitions that came under President Biden, said Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney who has represented Trump and is the Republican national committeewoman for California.

“We are seeing tension between Silicon Valley billionaires because, for the first election cycle in my memory, some of them are leaving the herd and thinking and acting for themselves," she said.

Changing relationships

In an August LinkedIn post, climate tech investor Josh Felser called out a Trump-supporting founder he had backed.

“I wonder how I will feel when I discover more friends or colleagues joining the Trump cabal," he said. “Our relationships will likely be forever changed & I suspect history will not look upon them kindly," he added.

Several female tech workers have started groups such as Tech4Kamala, VCs for Kamala and Founders for Kamala to mobilize support for Harris.

“We’re witnessing an unprecedented polarization," said Edda Collins Coleman, the co-founder of Tech4Kamala.

A VCs for Kamala survey of its venture-capitalist signatories released in the past week showed most think the loud voices of a few billionaires backing Trump don’t represent the opinion of the tech industry. The 225 people who participated in the survey said their views broadly aligned with Harris’s and that Washington should make it easier for tech workers to get visas, among other things.

Tensions had been simmering for a long time. In mid-August, Ben Horowitz—the co-founder of venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz—lashed out at former Sequoia Capital Chairman Michael Moritz, who partly funds The San Francisco Standard news site. The men’s firms have invested in some of the same companies.

Horowitz, a Democratic donor turned Trump supporter, accused Moritz of commissioning an article questioning why he and his wife had switched sides. Moritz has previously donated to Democratic causes.

“Sir Michael Moritz is now having his fake disinformation ‘newspaper’ fabricate hit pieces on his business rival, me," Horowitz wrote on X. “And, he has chosen to attack my wife."

The article detailed the couple’s political giving and called their switch from being Democratic to Republican a mystery. The news outlet denied any Moritz involvement. Moritz didn’t respond to a request for comment.

‘We have all gone too far’

Some founders and investors who work on green energy and were fans of Musk are angry that he didn’t push back after Trump dismissed environmental concerns in a long conversation with the Tesla chief on his social-media platform X.

In July, former buddies Hoffman and Peter Thiel bickered over their political views at the high-profile Sun Valley conference.

Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, has donated more than $10 million this election to support Biden and Harris’s presidential bids. Thiel has publicly said that he would vote for Trump and helped bankroll JD Vance’s Senate campaign.

Hoffman and Thiel worked together at PayPal—alongside Musk and Sacks. The billionaires no longer speak to each other because of Thiel’s political views, Hoffman said at the conference.

On Friday, Hoffman was a guest on the All-In podcast, hosted by Sacks and others, which is where some Trump supporters in Silicon Valley have shared their views. The conversation was heated but cordial.

Tech leaders are among the top donors for both sides. Harris’s campaign committee—transferred to her name after Biden dropped out—raised about $204 million in July, while Trump’s campaign committee raised $47.5 million.

San Francisco-based startup founder Waseem Daher said he has donated to a presidential candidate for the first time.

“This time felt different," he said. “The threat to American democracy feels real."

Daher has helped raise $80,000 for Harris and has pledged to match up to $1 million in donations from others.

Startup accelerator Y Combinator’s chief, Garry Tan, is planning another fundraiser for Harris. Palantir Technologies adviser Jacob Helberg and others are planning a fundraiser for Vance in September.

Some tech executives want to put an end to all the public squabbling.

Videogame company Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus said he isn’t supporting either candidate this election. Pincus has previously donated to Democratic causes.

“We believe so deeply that our side is righteous that we morally judge the other side," he wrote on LinkedIn. “We have all gone too far."