Silicon valley's Andreessen, Horowitz give millions to pro-Trump PAC

This super PAC raised $27.8 million, spent $22.6 million, and entered the final weeks of the campaign with $43.6 million cash on hand

By Bill Allison and Biz Carson
Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz each donated $2.5 million to a pro-Donald Trump super political action committee, according to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission.

The eponymous founders of venture firm Andreessen Horowitz shocked Silicon Valley when they announced they would support Trump in July. It was not previously known which Trump-allied group they were supporting. Andreessen also gave an additional $844,600 — the federal limit — to Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party.

Horowitz in October made another surprising announcement when he informed his firm that he’d also be making a “significant” donation to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, despite not knowing or endorsing her policies. Any record of that contribution has not yet shown up in federal filings.

The initial pro-Trump donations were made within days of Harris replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket. At the time, they said they supported Trump’s policies as most beneficial to cryptocurrency and startups, a position they called the “little tech agenda.”

“I’m going to have a lot of friends who are probably pissed off at me for saying anything nice about President Trump,” Horowitz said in a July video about their decision. “So here we are, and for little tech, we think Donald Trump is actually the right choice.”

Andreessen Horowitz, one of the best-known firms in tech, has become more enmeshed in politics in recent months. The firm has been stepping up its Washington lobbying footprint, and last year Horowitz wrote that the firm’s partners would seek to back candidates who support an “optimistic, technology-enabled future” and oppose “misguided” tech regulations. Andreessen also appeared at a Trump fundraiser in June.

 

Andreessen and Horowitz donated to Right For America, a super PAC that’s focusing most of its spending in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania. The group’s biggest backers are Isaac Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel Entertainment, and his wife Laura Perlmutter, who combined to give $4.9 million in the last quarter, bringing their total donations this year to $25 million, the filings show. Apollo Global Management LLC CEO Marc Rowan also gave $1 million.

The super PAC raised $27.8 million, spent $22.6 million, and entered the final weeks of the campaign with $43.6 million cash on hand, a sizable sum to persuade voters in the last stretch of the campaign.

Trump Turnout

Trump, whose campaign’s fundraising has fallen far behind that of Harris, also benefited from some big donations from billionaires to help the GOP get out the vote. Energy Transfer LP founder Kelcy Warren, Andy Beal of Beal Financial and Diane Hendricks, owner of ABC Supply Co., all contributed at least $1 million to Turnout For America, a super PAC that’s supporting Trump’s get-out-the-vote efforts. It raised $18.5 million, spent $15.7 million and began October with $2.7 million cash on hand. 

Big donors were also opening up their wallets to help Harris. The Republican Accountability PAC, a group supporting the vice president founded by “Never Trump” conservatives ahead of the 2020 election, raised $16.6 million and entered October with $8.7 million in the bank. Netflix’s Reed Hastings gave it $6.9 million, and it also received big donations from hedge fund manager Seth Klarman and the Pacific Environmental Coalition, a nonprofit led by technology venture capitalist Matt Cohler. Cohler’s nonprofit donated to Nikki Haley’s super PAC in the Republican primary.

Committees that elect to file quarterly, including presidential joint fundraising committees and the super PACs that are linked to Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate and GOP leaders in the House, have until midnight New York time to disclose detailed financial information with the Federal Election Commission.