Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio), Donald Trump’s running mate for the 2024 presidential election, has made a public appeal to billionaire Peter Thiel, urging him to support Trump’s campaign. Vance, who joined Trump’s ticket in July, is hoping to persuade Thiel to reconsider his decision to abstain from the 2024 race.
Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, a data analytics firm, has previously contributed financially to both Trump and Vance’s political campaigns. However, Thiel announced in November that he would not be donating to GOP politicians in 2024. While he hinted at a possible change of mind, he later confirmed in June that he would not be donating to super PACs supporting Trump, though he would still vote for the Republican nominee.
Vance’s plea comes as Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign announced it has raised $540 million since she entered the presidential race, with $82 million coming during the recent Democratic convention in Chicago.
Thiel’s relationship with Trump has cooled since 2022, when he invested $35 million to help elect Vance in Ohio and in the failed Senate campaign of Blake Masters in Arizona. While Thiel donated over $1 million to the Trump campaign in 2016, he did not contribute to Trump’s re-election campaign in 2020. Despite this, Thiel has expressed optimism about a Trump return to the White House with Vance as vice president.
Their relationship goes beyond politics, with Thiel playing a pivotal role in launching Vance’s venture capital career in 2016. He brought Vance into Mithril Capital Management, a venture capital (VC) firm he founded, shortly after Vance gained national attention for his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
Vance’s appointment as Trump’s running mate surprised many. His ties to the Silicon Valley elite, particularly his mentor-protégé relationship with Thiel, are believed to have contributed to his rise to power within the GOP.
