In Silicon Valley, Where Trump Made Inroads, Democrats Are Now Invigorated
The New York Times
Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen and others have endorsed Donald J. Trump. But President Biden’s withdrawal has re-energized Democrats across the tech industry and may blunt that momentum.
In recent weeks, many Democrats in Silicon Valley had kept uncharacteristically quiet as prominent technology leaders — including Elon Musk and the investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz — endorsed Donald J. Trump for president.
Even though Democrats had long been a dominant force in Silicon Valley, some were unenthusiastic about supporting President Biden, who was unpopular in the tech industry. They wanted to see if Mr. Biden could change the narrative around his struggling campaign. And those who were vocal in their support — such as the tech investor Reid Hoffman — faced attacks.
But that reluctance to speak up changed when Mr. Biden announced on Sunday that he would drop out of the presidential race, paving the way for a new Democratic ticket. Across the tech industry, the floodgates immediately reopened.
“People are fired up,” said Nihal Mehta, an investor at Eniac Ventures, a New York venture capital firm, pointing to an outpouring of excitement online and in group chats around the industry.
Tech executives and investors said they were invigorated by the change. “It’s democracy time, people,” Roy Bahat, an investor at Bloomberg Beta, posted on LinkedIn. Aaron Levie, the chief executive of Box, a cloud storage company, wrote on X that Mr. Biden had shown “amazing leadership,” adding, “Now let’s go!”
The energy was a far cry from the dismay felt in tech circles recently as some of the industry’s most influential voices declared they were for Mr. Trump. The rejuvenation could blunt the momentum of pro-Trump conservatives in Silicon Valley and entice more wealthy tech executives to throw their support — and money — behind the Democratic ticket.
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