This morning, more than 90 CEOs and business leaders endorsed Kamala Harris and her plans to create an Opportunity Economy, first reported by CNBC. The list of business leaders, which is continuing to grow, includes the CEOs of Yelp, Box, and Chobani, as well as former CEOs of Starbucks, Ford, Pepsi, and Lyft. Their endorsement follows the release of Vice President Kamala Harris’ plan for a “New Way Forward” for small businesses and entrepreneurs, which she announced with a major speech in New Hampshire on Wednesday. It also follows yet another round of expert analyses showing that Donald Trump’s extreme Project 2025 agenda would drive up costs for families and shrink the nation’s economy, while Vice President Harris’ economic vision would support families and small businesses while driving growth and bringing down costs.
Vice President Harris’ vision for an Opportunity Economy is built on investments in the middle class, small businesses, workers, and industry—key drivers of our country’s economy. Her plan for small businesses and entrepreneurs sets an ambitious goal of a record 25 million new business applications in her first term, with a ten-fold increase in the deduction for startup expenses from $5,000 to $50,000 to help entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground. It would also encourage continued investment in our industries and workers and reduce the deficit. She has also proposed common sense measures to bring down the costs of groceries, housing, prescription drugs, and more, while cutting taxes for the middle class and putting thousands of dollars back in families’ pockets.
Today’s endorsements come from a diverse group of current and former executives, representing newer and more established companies from a range of industries and based across the country.
See the story below:
CNBC: 88 corporate leaders endorse Harris in new letter, including CEOs of Yelp, Box and Ripple
[Megan Cassella, 9/6/2024]
- Eighty-eight current and former top executives from across corporate America have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in a new letter shared exclusively with CNBC.
- Among the signers are several high-profile CEOs of public companies, including Aaron Levie of Box, Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp, and Michael Lynton, chairman of Snap, Inc.
- Other signers appear to be issuing their first public endorsements of Harris since she became the de facto Democratic nominee in July.
- They include James Murdoch, the former CEO of 21st Century Fox and an heir to the Murdoch family media empire, and crypto executive Chris Larsen, co-founder of the Ripple blockchain platform.
- Other notable signers are philanthropist Lynn Forrester de Rothschild, private equity billionaire José Feliciano, Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson, and D.C. sports magnate Ted Leonsis, owner of the NBA’s Washington Wizards, WNBA’s Mystics and the NHL’s Washington Capitals.
- The three-page list also includes a slate of longtime Democratic political donors, like Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr, Insight partners Deven Parekh and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios.
- Another subset of names are people who have supported Harris in particular since her political campaigns in California, like the philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and NBA Hall-of-Famer and billionaire businessman Magic Johnson.
- More than a dozen of the signers made their fortunes on Wall Street: Tony James, the former president and COO of Blackstone and founder of Jefferson River Capital; Bruce Heyman, former managing director of private wealth at Goldman Sachs; Peter Orszag, CEO of Lazard and Steve Westly managing director of the Westly Group and a former Tesla board member.
- Still more are prominent in Silicon Valley, including the venture capitalist Ron Conway, entrepreneur Mark Cuban, and former LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman.
- “The best way to support the continued strength, security, and reliability of our democracy and economy” is by electing Harris president, the writers say.
- They also argue that Harris would “continue to advance fair and predictable policies that support the rule of law, stability, and a sound business environment” if she were president.
- Harris outlined proposals to support small businesses that feature a plan to increase a tax deduction for start-up expenses by ten times, up to $50,000.
- She also proposed lifting the top capital gains tax rate to 28% for people making more than $1 million a year—up from the current 20% rate, but far lower than the 39.6% level that President Joe Biden has proposed.
- Harris said she dialed back Biden’s top rate, in part, because her goal is to encourage more private-sector investment.
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