After public Trump endorsement, Ben and Felicia Horowitz flip to support Harris

Ben Horowitz, the prominent venture capitalist who stirred Silicon Valley when he endorsed Donald Trump’s reelection bid two months ago, told staff on Friday that he plans to make a “significant donation” in support of Kamala Harris’s campaign.

The donation has not yet appeared in campaign finance filings to date. The news was first reported by Axios.

It’s unclear whether the move represents a reversal for Horowitz and his wife, Felicia, after openly endorsing Trump, or an attempt to play both sides. In the note, he writes that he and his wife have known Harris for more than a decade.

In his letter to staff, he said Andreessen Horowitz would “not be updating its position” because Harris had not yet fully outlined her tech policies. Horowitz previously released a 90-minute podcast with his firm’s co-founder Marc Andreessen where they outlined their support for Trump because of his pro-tech stances.

“Although I have had several conversations with Vice President Harris and her team on their likely tech policies and am encouraged by my belief in her, they have not yet stated what their tech policy will be, so the firm will not be updating its position in that regard,” he wrote.

The Standard reported in August that the couple’s decision to publically endorse Trump surprised longtime and close friends, particularly after years of support for Democratic candidates. The article noted that Felicia scrubbed her social media and public posts of photos with liberal politicians.

Prior to its publication, Horowitz posted an incendiary tweet about the article, calling it a “disinformation” hit piece and quoting a Kendrick Lamar diss track. Rather than providing comment for the story, Horowitz wrote that Felica told him, “[Standard Chairman] Mike Moritz and [reporter] Emily Shugerman can kiss the crack of my black ass.”

After Biden dropped out of the race, leaving a path for Harris to take the nomination, tech executives expressed hope she would extend an olive branch to Silicon Valley, given its longtime role as a support base for Democrats.

Wide swings in political stances run in the Horowitz family. Ben is the son of David Horowitz, a former Marxist intellectual turned right-wing activist who started the David Horowitz Freedom Center, which has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its anti-Muslim ideology.