Silicon Valley Heavyweights, Including Elon Musk, Rally Behind J.D. Vance VP Pick

Republican figureheads from Silicon Valley are rallying down erstwhile president Donald Trump’s enactment of Ohio legislator J.D. Vance arsenic his moving mate.

Top Silicon Valley leaders similar Elon Musk came retired successful enactment of Vance arsenic Trump’s vice statesmanlike prime successful the hours aft the authoritative announcement was made connected Monday. Musk said that the Trump-Vance ticket “resounds with victory” and called it an “excellent decision” by Trump. David Sacks, a salient GOP donor and task capitalist, wrote connected the societal media tract X, “This is who I privation by Trump’s side: an American patriot.”

Musk, Sacks, and erstwhile Fox News Host Tucker Carlson each lobbied Trump implicit the play to take Vance, according to a Tuesday Axios report.

The tech industry’s excitement implicit Vance comes arsenic small surprise. Vance, a task capitalist himself, has worked alongside large investors similar Peter Thiel and AOL laminitis Steve Case. When Vance ran for US Senate successful 2022, Thiel donated $15 cardinal to enactment his campaign. Sacks besides donated $900,000 during the Senate election, according to Open Secrets.

Despite his investing history, Vance has besides go a vocal professional of the tech manufacture implicit his 2 years successful the Senate. He’s called for Congress to shrink the liability protections provided to societal media companies by Section 230. He’s besides supported efforts to interruption up large tech companies, accusing them of monopolistic behavior. Federal Trade Commission seat Lina Khan has received monolithic amounts of backlash from the tech manufacture for her efforts to rein successful immoderate of its astir large players, and Vance has praised her work.

Vance’s past regulatory positions seemingly haven’t diminished his tech-industry support. “If Trump/Vance wins, it volition broadly beryllium bonzer for startups and capitalism broadly,” Jason Calacinis, capitalist and All In podcast cohost with Sacks, wrote successful an email to WIRED connected Monday. “Silicon Valley is mostly libertarian—not near … They see Biden a “decelerist” (decel), truthful Trump/JD person won—it’s crippled over.”

The prime hasn’t wooed each right-leaning investors. On Monday, The Washington Post reported that Ken Griffin, manager of the hedge money Citadel, opposed Vance.

Still, Vance’s Silicon Valley backers could connection monolithic amounts of currency to enactment Trump’s reelection. On Monday, The New York Times reported that the pro-Trump America PAC, a caller radical backed by tech entrepreneurs similar brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, could person important fiscal enactment from Musk. Later, The Wall Street Journal suggested that Musk would beryllium donating $45 cardinal each month.

Many of the aforesaid tech entrepreneurs who announced their enactment for Trump implicit the past fewer weeks are America PAC donors, like Shaun Maguire.

“Billionaires and corporations are virtually rooting for J.D. Vance: They cognize helium and Trump volition chopped their taxes and nonstop prices skyrocketing for everyone else,” Jen O’Malley Dillon, the Biden-Harris run chair, said successful a Monday statement.