Tech companies, VCs, swing to Democrats

congress.bmpNow that the Democrats are the dominant party on the hill in Washington, tech companies and venture capitalists are contributing more to that party than they are to congressional Republicans.

For the first half of this year, almost two-thirds of the contributions from the political action committees of Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Google and other tech companies went to Democrats and Democratic committees, according to the Mercury News. That’s the reverse of what it was last year.

So far this year, the venture capital lobby group, the National Venture Capital Association has given a majority of its money to the Democrats. Note, however, that the amounts are relatively small. They pale in comparison to the many millions of dollars major politicians need for their campaigns. Here’s a full list, courtesy of PEHub (downloads Excel file)

Five partners of Kleiner Perkins, one of Silicon Valley’s leading venture firms — Brook Byers, John Doerr, Joseph Lacob, Ray Lane and Ted Schlein — are the main donors to the VC PAC this year, the report notes. (Chart by Karl Kahler, of Mercury News).

Meanwhile, the valley’s glittery Google is the place every politician wants to visit.

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About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • what does that mean? does it mean that Democrats stat to listen to VCs, or VCs start to agree the democrats? or boht? :d
  • olo
    It means that according to their sources they all believe that in the next 4 years the democrats are going to be the more influential party. That is why they invest into the democratic party.
  • It means democracy is a business plan for the elite. Money rules decisions, not truth.