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Silicon Valley G.O.P. Donor Spin-the-Bottle

For once, all the intrigue in the tech donor community is on the right—with conservative billionaires picking their dance partners for 2024, navigating the Trump question, and contemplating the “DeSantasy.”

Oracle chairman Larry Ellison has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Trump, and more recently, he has privately expressed that he’s ready to see the G.O.P. turn the page.
Oracle chairman Larry Ellison has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Trump, and more recently, he has privately expressed that he’s ready to see the G.O.P. turn the page. Photo: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images
Theodore Schleifer
February 8, 2023

For the first time in more than a decade, the political energy in Silicon Valley is not on the left but on the right. Larry Ellison is privately telling people that he wants his friend Tim Scott to run for president. Donald Trump’s super PAC is soliciting the involvement of Peter Thiel. Tech donors in Orange County are preparing to welcome Ron DeSantis for another offertory. The Silicon Valley G.O.P. shadow primary in 2024, in other words, is shaping up to resemble its Democratic equivalent in 2020, when  candidates fought to lock down support of tech contributors and mega-donors before launching their campaigns.