With Trump VP pick J.D. Vance, Silicon Valley conservatives land a 'tech bro' on the ticket
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By Alexandra Ulmer, Dawn Chmielewski
MILWAUKEE, July 16 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's choice of J.D. Vance for a running mate raised the hopes of Silicon Valley conservatives on Tuesday that they stand to gain having a fellow "tech bro" within reach of the White House for the first time.
"WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH BABY," Delian Asparouhov, a partner at billionaire investor Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund, wrote on social media site X.
Author of the bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," a graduate of Yale Law School and later a venture capitalist in San Francisco, Vance has had a rapid ascent for American politics.
At 39, he has served but two years in the U.S. Senate representing the state of Ohio.
The Republican National Convention on Monday formally nominated Trump and Vance as their ticket in the Nov. 5 election to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Some right-leaning investors began re-circulating old tweets of Vance's and set their sights on friendlier regulations ranging from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency.
"He has a direct line to some important influencers as he's evaluating or thinking through some of the policy around tech," said Matt Murphy, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, noting the traditional gap between Washington and Silicon Valley.
On the campaign trail, Vance has used his background to serve as a bridge between Trump associates and wealthy Silicon Valley donors, many of whom have opened their wallets to Trump this election.
Republicans comprise a minority in the overwhelmingly left-leaning San Francisco Bay Area, although conservatives in the tech industry, including Thiel, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and entrepreneur Elon Musk, have begun to raise their voices more.
Buoyed by the promise of technology, they complain about what they view as unnecessary constraints placed on their businesses by progressive politicians and employees.
Vance has ridden that wave, aided by Thiel, who poured some $15 million into Vance's successful U.S. Senate campaign in 2022 and invested in the VC firm Narya that he founded in 2019.
Silicon Valley conservatives say they see Vance as one of their own even when they differ on some policies.
Despite his background, Vance has said that large tech companies have too much influence and called for Google GOOGL.O to be broken up, positions at odds with conservatives who chafe at government regulation.
Venture capitalist and crypto investor Tim Draper, who backed former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, said he was hopeful Vance "is more VC than lawyer."
"A good understanding of the way freedom and startups drive growth in our economy is critical for the continued success of the Silicon Valley, our nation's 'golden goose,'" Draper said.
Draper saw Vance's crypto investments as a sign that he "probably groks (intuitively understands) the economy of the future to some degree," he said, using a term popular in tech circles. Grok is also the name of the ChatGPT challenger from Musk's startup xAI.
Vance held more than $100,000 in Bitcoin as of 2022, according to his federal disclosure from October 2023.
The Trump-Vance campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Vance's ties to Silicon Valley, his proposed tech policies and whether he still holds cryptocurrency.
When asked whether the Trump-Vance ticket would seek to break up Google, Trump's son and adviser Donald Jr., who favored Vance for the No. 2 job, told Reuters at the convention in Milwaukee: "I'll let them discuss some of the intricacies of the platform ... but I like his (Vance's) understanding of tech."
Vance introduced Donald Trump Jr. to entrepreneur and investor David Sacks and helped to organize a June fundraiser at Sacks' San Francisco mansion that raised $12 million for the former president.
Sacks thanked Vance in his speech at the event, according to a source familiar with it, saying "this all started with J.D. Vance calling and asking if we could host an event for President Trump."
The former president used the June event to pitch himself as a champion for cryptocurrency and slammed Democrats' attempts to regulate the sector, Reuters reported at the time.
Additional reporting by Krystal Hu, Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Helen Coster in Milwaukee; Writing by Katie Paul in New York; Editing by Howard Goller
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