{"id":39434,"date":"2025-02-11T00:38:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T08:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=39434"},"modified":"2025-02-11T00:38:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T08:38:05","slug":"hakeem-jeffries-met-privately-with-silicon-valley-donors-in-bid-to-mend-fences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/02\/11\/hakeem-jeffries-met-privately-with-silicon-valley-donors-in-bid-to-mend-fences\/","title":{"rendered":"Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Silicon Valley donors in bid to \u2018mend fences.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The meeting comes as the tech world has lurched rightward in the second Donald Trump era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hakeem<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A person who attended the donor event said they were frustrated that much of Hakeem Jeffries\u2019 comments focused on Donald Trump. | Francis Chung\/POLITICO<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By ELENA SCHNEIDER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

02\/07\/2025 04:45 PM EST (Politico.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries quietly met with more than 150 Silicon Valley-based donors last week in California \u2014 an early step in Democrats\u2019 efforts to repair relationships with a once-deep blue constituency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meet-and-greet, in tony Los Altos Hills, came at a precarious moment for Democrats in the tech world, which has lurched rightward in the second Donald Trump era. The world\u2019s wealthiest tech mogul is upending Washington, and Democratic leaders are facing criticism from their own base for their halting response. Jeffries, meanwhile, was on the West Coast seemingly trying to avoid the next<\/em> Elon Musk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entrepreneurs from Musk to Meta\u2019s Mark Zuckerberg and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, all once card-carrying Democrats, are now aligning themselves with Trump. Zuckerberg visited the White House for meetings on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Northern California, Jeffries and Rep. Sam Liccardo, the freshman Democrat who represents part of Silicon Valley, were working to stem further defections and to rally Democratic-leaning donors to their side. To the crowd, which included several major Democratic bundlers, as well as California Reps. Jimmy Panetta, Mike Levin and George Whitesides, Jeffries described his party\u2019s efforts to push back on Trump and outlined their campaign to retake the House in 2026, according to four people who attended the event and were granted anonymity to describe a private meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe singular focus was \u2014 how do we ensure Silicon Valley remains with Democrats,\u201d said one of the people who participated, \u201cbecause, right now, Silicon Valley is feeling very purple.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeffries\u2019 appearance was the Democratic leader\u2019s first Silicon Valley swing after the 2024 election and in the run-up to the midterm elections \u2014 an early overture at a meeting where no donation was required to attend. And it was no accident he trekked to the nation\u2019s tech capital. In Washington, Democrats in recent days have been lacing into Musk as he wreaks havoc on the federal government, viewing him as a more polarizing \u2014 and less popular \u2014 foil than Trump<\/a>. But the moneyed tech world that Musk hails from is critical to Democrats\u2019 fortunes in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a significant fear that these tech folks, who have been with us for a long time, will say, \u2018fuck it, we\u2019re going with the other guys,\u2019\u201d said Alex Hoffman, a Democratic donor adviser who works with donors across the country but did not attend the event. \u201cThese donors are also pissed, watching former and current colleagues have unlimited, unchecked power, and getting richer off of this and they\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats are \u201ctrying to mend fences and they\u2019re also trying to keep them in the tent,\u201d Hoffman added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for Jeffries declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats have reasons to be concerned. For years, some in Silicon Valley accused Democrats of alienating the tech industry by attempting to overregulate it, while some Democrats outside Silicon Valley argued then-President Joe Biden\u2019s antitrust enforcement and tax policies helped regular Americans over the extraordinarily wealthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions exploded in 2024, when some tech leaders flocked to Trump\u2019s campaign. Musk bought Twitter and transformed it into a Trump-friendly platform, then spent a staggering $290 million supporting Trump, according to recent Federal Elections Commission filings, while Andreessen spent more than $5 million on Trump. Democrats and Kamala Harris had their own tech backers last year, including Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who spent more than $50 million, and Reid Hoffman, who spent more than $20 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for the first time, Republicans had many more vocal \u2014 and well-heeled \u2014 supporters in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High-dollar donor frustration \u2014 and the problem it presents for Democrats \u2014 isn\u2019t limited to California. Across the country, \u201cthe mood is tense\u201d among Democratic donors, said another top Democratic fundraiser, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats are on their heels as Trump steamrolls the government, seemingly unchecked. \u201cEveryone wants to know: What can you do about what I just saw Trump do on TV, and why did we end up here?\u201d the fundraiser said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Silicon Valley, Jeffries did not independently raise tech issues, despite facing a room anxious to hear how Democrats might approach AI and crypto policies in the next Congress, several people who attended said. A second person who attended the event said they were frustrated that much of Jeffries\u2019 comments focused on Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    \u201cWhen will we move off this posture of complaining and moaning about Trump,\u201d the person said. \u201cWhat positive ideas will Democrats offer to people to bring people back in?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That person said Jeffries has time to assuage Democratic-leaning tech leaders and \u201creestablish strong ties with the tech community.\u201d However, the attendee said, \u201cthere\u2019s work that needs to be done, and that begins with an acknowledgement that this last campaign was not their best work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Jeffries, at the event, \u201crightly sensed\u201d the \u201canxiety in the crowd that the opportunity was slipping away and Democrats need to do a lot of things in a short period of time to prevent the realignment of tech with the Republican Party from becoming much more permanent,\u201d the person continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The group included several top tech executives, including DocuSign CEO Allan Thygesen, Box CEO Aaron Levie, Bloom Energy CEO K.R. Sridhar and Cooper Teboe, a major Democratic donor adviser in Silicon Valley. Robert Klein and Danielle Guttman Klein, major Democratic donors, hosted it at their home in Los Altos Hills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In his remarks, Jeffries concentrated on how Democrats planned to retake the House in 2026. He said Democrats were reaching toward the center, while Trump will swing harder right, according to the first attendee, who took notes on the presentation. Jeffries also highlighted how California Democrats helped the party net two more House seats in 2024, as well as the role the state will play in their efforts to flip the House, according to the fourth person who was in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He also told the crowd that Democrats needed to pick their fights. It\u2019s a mantra Jeffries has invoked before<\/a>, comparing the party\u2019s strategy to the New York Yankees\u2019 Aaron Judge, who is \u201cnot going to swing at every pitch,\u201d the Democratic leader said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Jessica Piper contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The meeting comes as the tech world has lurched rightward in the second Donald Trump era. A person who attended the donor event said they were frustrated that much of Hakeem Jeffries\u2019 comments focused on Donald Trump. | Francis Chung\/POLITICO By ELENA SCHNEIDER 02\/07\/2025 04:45 PM EST (Politico.com) Democratic House Leader Hakeem… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39435,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39434\/revisions\/39435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}