Harris seeks support from Silicon Valley as a presidential candidate

Harris returned to her "home turf" of San Francisco for the first time as a Democratic presidential candidate, striving for Silicon Valley's support.

On August 11, 2024 local time, US Vice President Harris, who has basically locked in the Democratic presidential nomination, returned to San Francisco for the first time after obtaining the presidential nomination and participated in political fundraising activities, hoping to take the opportunity to rebuild a good relationship with the Silicon Valley tech community. Born in California and with the identity of a Democratic candidate and a good relationship with the tech industry, Harris is in a "home field" position in this "electoral battle" targeting Silicon Valley people compared to her compe*** Trump in the 2024 US presidential election.

According to media reports on August 12, Harris's fundraising event on the 11th was a "star-studded" affair: Attending politicians included California Governor Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, etc., and business people included Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, and Aaron Levie, the co-founder of the American cloud storage service provider Box, etc. Aaron Levie claimed that there has been a "fundamental shift" in favor of Harris in Silicon Valley, a situation that never occurred during Biden's administration. He said, "I'm very optimistic. I believe she has some understanding of the different dynamics we face in the tech industry."

Harris was responsible for tech industry affairs during her tenure as California's attorney general and led some of the Biden administration's work around artificial intelligence during her tenure as vice president. It may be too early to assert a "fundamental shift" in Silicon Valley, but Silicon Valley has indeed provided extensive and strong support for this "home field" candidate. On July 31, venture capitalist Leslie Feinzaig led the launch of an online petition calling on investors to support Harris. Within hours, a group of Silicon Valley figures represented by Hoffman signed their names on the petition. According to US media reports on August 12, more than 1,300 people have signed the petition so far, most of whom are venture capitalists.

However, it was reported that although some Silicon Valley figures expect Harris to adopt a more dovish stance on tech policies than the Biden administration, she herself has not yet announced her specific positions in many tech policy areas. NBC reported that Harris has a "mixed" record on government regulations in the tech field. Harris pursued the role of tech companies in online sexual harassment and revenge *** during her tenure as California's attorney general and criticized Meta CEO Zuckerberg on user privacy issues during her tenure as a California senator.