Former President Donald Trump is turning to Silicon Valley and former rival Ron DeSantis’ former donors to boost his campaign coffers and reduce President Joe Biden’s significant fundraising power.
Bloomberg recently reported that venture capital firms David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya were in talks with the Trump campaign to host a June fundraiser at Sacks’ San Francisco residence. Trump would also participate in a recording of the couple’s podcast, All In.
Sacks, co-founder of Craft Ventures, previously supported the Florida governor’s now-defunct presidential campaign.
Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, will also host a June fundraiser for Trump in Newport Beach, a coastal city in Southern California, Bloomberg reported.
Before running for president last May, DeSantis was the leading conservative alternative to Trump, attracting support from wealthy Republican donors wary of supporting the former president’s campaign. But Trump never lost his popularity among the Republican base, and the former president went on to win over top oil and gas executives, who began opening their checkbooks.
The former president’s efforts to appeal to Silicon Valley’s high-profile donors follow a similar path.
Biden has long enjoyed considerable support among Silicon Valley’s tech luminaries. Last week, the president visited the region for events hosted by former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla as part of his fundraising drive across California .
While Biden and Trump both emerged from their respective party’s primaries as presumptive nominees early in the nomination process, the incumbent president is far ahead in the money race as the critical summer period begins. campaign.
The Biden campaign closed March with $85.5 million in cash. The campaign brought in $43.8 million that month alone, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Biden’s numbers have so far eclipsed the Trump campaign, which raised $15.3 million in March and had $44.6 million in cash at the end of that month.
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee announced earlier this month that they had raised more than $76 million for the former president in April.
Biden’s campaign, which already beat Trump by opening numerous campaign offices in critical battleground states, has yet to release its April numbers.
businessinsider
