Sequoia’s Michael Moritz says Trump’s Silicon Valley supporters are making a ‘big mistake’

Sequoia Capital’s partner Michael Moritz.

While some Silicon Valley investors and startup leaders are going red hoping for a more “tech-friendly” White House, Michael Moritz, a storied Sequoia Capital investor, believes that does not reflect the Valley overall.

“Fortunately, at least in Silicon Valley, Trump will not prevail,” Moritz wrote in a Financial Times opinion piece, which was also posted on LinkedIn. “Despite the inflammatory tweets and podcasts of a handful of moneymen, and all the hubbub it has caused, few have joined their ranks.”

Moritz, known for his big bets on companies such as Google and PayPal, stopped short of endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. However, his comments contrast those of people at Sequoia who have voiced support for former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. They include Doug Leone, his longtime partner at the firm, and another partner, Shaun Maguire.

Last month, the firm’s top partner, Roelof Botha, said at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Park City, Utah, that the firm overall didn’t “take a political point of view” but that it’s “proud of the fact” that it had enabled many partners “to express their respected individual views along the way, and given them that freedom.”

Other Trump supporters in the venture-capital world include the prominent Andreessen Horowitz cofounders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Founders Fund’s Peter Thiel, and the “All-In” podcast hosts and venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya.

Like the rest of the nation, Silicon Valley is deeply divided over whom to support in the upcoming presidential race. In his piece, Moritz chided Trump supporters in Silicon Valley. They are “making the same mistake as all powerful people who back authoritarians,” he said, adding: “They are, I suspect, seduced by the notion that because of their means, they will be able to control Trump.”

But he said Trump was not reliable — his supporters are “deluding themselves that he will not do what he says or promises,” he said, adding: “That’s not been the modus operandi of authoritarians over the centuries.”

Prominent startup leaders have also endorsed the Trump-Vance ticket. Last week, BitGo’s CEO hosted a fundraising event at his home in Palo Alto, California, for Sen. JD Vance. Palmer Luckey, who founded Oculus VR and Anduril, hosted a fundraiser in Newport Beach, California, for Trump, Bloomberg reported. Tesla CEO Elon Musk committed to funding a pro-Trump super PAC, The Wall Street Journal said.

In response, blue-leaning VCs united to counter the vocal right-wing tech leaders. VCs for Kamala, a coalition of over 100 Silicon Valley investors, has committed to supporting Harris. The prominent VCs Vinod Khosla, Reid Hoffman, Mark Cuban, and Ron Conway are among the supporters who pledged to vote for her and donate to the campaign.

Tech executives are also showing support for Harris. Leaders from Google, Netflix, and OpenAI have teamed up to host a fundraiser for Harris in Washington, DC, later this month. Harris raised $310 million in July alone, more than double the $137 million raised by Trump in the same month, Politico reported.

Moritz added that Trump had historically not performed well among Silicon Valley voters.

“In 2020 Trump won 21 per cent of the votes cast between San Francisco and San Jose, the cities that bookend Silicon Valley,” he wrote. “And in 2016, the year he won the election that he says was also stolen, he received 18%. His share of the vote this year will be no different.”