Two tech investors to host Trump at June San Francisco fundraiser
FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures during the annual National Rifle Association (NRA) meeting in Dallas, Texas, U.S., May 18, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
By Alexandra Ulmer
(Reuters) - Two high-profile tech investors will host a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in deeply Democratic San Francisco in June, according to a copy of an invitation sent to donors and seen by Reuters.
The June 6 reception and dinner with Trump will be hosted by venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, as well as Sacks' wife Jacqueline, the invite states.
Reuters was not immediately able to determine who else will be attending. Sacks and Palihapitiya did not respond to requests for comment on the event.
While the tech industry tends to skew left-wing - San Francisco voted 85% for Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election against then-president Trump - it also has some libertarian and conservative undercurrents.
Sacks and Palihapitiya co-host the "All-in" podcast, which gained popularity for giving an insider's peek into their world of technology and wealth. In recent years, the podcast hosts have expressed more conservative viewpoints and critiqued what they perceive as an increasingly liberal Silicon Valley culture.
The June event shows how Trump is trying to broaden his coalition and seek out new fundraising sources. After a raft of high-dollar donor events across the country, Trump overtook Biden in fundraising last month for the first time.
The San Francisco invite says it costs $300,000 per person, or $500,000 per couple, to be a member of the host committee. A 'VIP' ticket is going for $50,000.
David Sacks is a close friend of billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Sacks and Musk last year hosted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on social media site X for his chaotic announcement that he was running in the Republican presidential primary.
It was not immediately clear if Musk might attend the Trump fundraiser. Trump met with Musk, one of the world's richest individuals, in Florida this March. Musk later said he would not donate money to any presidential candidates this election.
Musk did not respond to an e-mail on Wednesday about whether he would attend the event.
(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer. Additional reporting by Anna Tong, editing by Ross Colvin and Philippa Fletcher)