The Financial Times analysis lands on a split that had been building all cycle: an earlier survey of executive giving found Warren and Sandersnotably absent from tech executives' recipient lists, yet Vox's Q4 tally showed Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter workers alone had pushed ~$270K to Sanders — more than to any other candidate. Today's finding scales that up: one-third of all big-tech employee donations went to the two progressive senators.
First-order effects
Warren and Sanders gain a funding base drawn disproportionately from the very industry their platforms target for regulation, while rival campaigns funded by tech executives cannot claim the same employee-level support.
Second-order effects
The employee-executive divergence pressures Democratic contenders courting both pools: once Warren exits and the field narrows, those same five companies' employees become the largest corporate source of contributions, funneling $15.1M+ to Biden per WSJ filings.
Third-order effects
The rank-and-file/executive split prefigures the 2024 realignment captured in FEC data, where executives and VCs shifted decisively rightward — $273.2M to Trump including $242.6M from Musk — while internet-company giving remained majority-Democratic at ~80%.
The trend: Tech's political money is stratifying by seniority, with rank-and-file employees anchoring Democratic primary challengers while executive and VC capital migrates toward Republicans.
“What is striking about this primary cycle is the schism between the people who run the companies and their workers.” @NellieBowles @eringriffith https://www.nytimes.com/...
“For a long time, @millanpatterson said, many local conservatives felt despondent about the state's politics. Now they find themselves surprisingly optimistic.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Mike Bloomberg personally called a high-level executive at Google in order to hire @joshto, who is on personal leave to work for Hawkfish, Bloomberg's digital agency. Another reminder about Bloomberg's relationships to Silicon Valley. https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/..…
This story about how CEOs + VCs would rather support Donald Trump (who is caging migrant children) than Bernie Sanders (who would raise tax rates) tells you *almost* everything you need to know about the moral infrastructure of modern Silicon Valley https://www.nytimes.com/...
Many leaders in Silicon Valley hope to avoid having Bernie Sanders as the Democratic presidential nominee, even as their employees are gathering for him en masse https://www.nytimes.com/...
“The schism [is] between the people who run the companies and their workers. Employees of Alphabet gave $499,309 to Mr. Sanders for the 2020 cycle, his second-largest total donations from one employer after University of California employees.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
A #NeverSanders movement is taking shape in much the same way the #NeverTrump campaign formed in 2016. Silicon Valley elite urge anyone but Bernie. Elsewhere, the former head of Bank of America says he'll write someone in if Sanders is the nominee. https://www.nytimes.com/...
We spend a lot of time on the left reading about how structural ruling-class forces operate. Watching them take human form and mobilize in front of your eyes is still a stunning, spectacular experience. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Sanders and Warren scare Big Tech but thrill its workers. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have each received roughly one-third of all donations from workers at Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Tesla, Netflix, Uber and Apple https://www.ft.com/...
“Sanders and Warren have each received roughly one-third of all donations from workers at Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Tesla, Netflix, Uber and Apple” compared to 26% for Buttigieg, 8 per cent for Joe Biden and 2 per cent for Amy Klobuchar. https://www.ft.com/...