US NEWS
These are the business leaders who endorse Kamala Harris: Mark Cuban, James Murdoch...
The Harris campaign reports that it raised more than $300 million in August as private sector leaders came out in support of Kamala Harris’ candidacy.
In August, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign raised $361 million, nearly three times the funds raised by the Trump campaign.
The Harris campaign reported that the funds were raised through three million individual contributions, of which 1.3 million had not made any contributions in 2020. Over the last few weeks, it has become clear that the Democratic Party is interested in courting moderate Republicans who were unwilling to vote for Donald Trump or Joe Biden. This strategy shows signs of working in the fundraising data, with one in five donations coming from registered Republicans or independents.
These voters might find Harris’ candidacy attractive as major names in the business world coalesce around her campaign. Meanwhile, other voters see these endorsements as the private sector throwing its support behind a candidate who will protect their financial interests.
Liberal capital coalesces around Kamala Harris
Major figures like billionaire Mark Cuban have come out in strong support of the vice president, arguing that she “is listening to business people and getting their feedback on what’s fair and what will lead to more investment in business.” Cuban cited a policy proposal by the Harris campaign that endorses a 28 percent tax on capital gains. President Biden proposed the same tax but at a rate of 39.6 percent, and Cubans interpreted Harris’s decision to lower the rate as taking into consideration the needs of business.
Some supporters of Donald Trump tried to organize a boycott of Netflix. This was in response to co-founder Reed Hastings announcing his endorsement of Kamala Harris and donating $7 million to her campaign through a super PAC. Many activists and policymakers believe that super PACs enable wealthy individuals to secretly funnel money to political candidates, which they see as a corrupting influence in US politics.
The son of media titan Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, has endorsed the vice president’s candidacy; so have Melinda French Gates, former Time Warner CEO; Jeff Bewkes; and Daniel H. Schulman, former CEO of PayPal.