Tech Employees Overwhelmingly Donating To Harris
Photo: Reuters
SAN JOSE, CA (REUTERS) – Workers at major tech companies are overwhelmingly supporting Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris through donations, according to data from OpenSecrets, despite some prominent tech billionaires backing Republican rival Donald Trump. Employees at companies like Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft have donated millions to Harris, with Alphabet workers contributing $2.16 million, significantly more than the amount Trump has received from tech employees.
Notably, tech billionaires such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Andreessen Horowitz co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have expressed support for Trump, favoring his economic policies. The upcoming November election has sharply divided Silicon Valley, traditionally a Democratic stronghold, with venture capitalists like Reid Hoffman and Mark Cuban supporting Harris, while others have expressed dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden’s policies on mergers and data privacy.
Corporate donations to federal campaigns, including presidential races, are prohibited by law, but employees are free to contribute. For example, Amazon and Microsoft employees donated $1 million and $1.1 million to Harris, respectively, while Trump’s campaign collected smaller amounts—$116,000 from Amazon workers and $88,000 from Microsoft workers.
This pattern of donations extends to other tech firms like Meta and Apple, where Harris is receiving significantly more support than Trump. Meta employees donated $835,000 to Harris and $25,000 to Trump, while Apple employees gave $861,000 to Harris compared to $44,000 for Trump.