Mark Cuban, Business Titans, woos Republican voters for Kamala Harris

• A group of founders and CEOs launch “Business Leaders for Harris.”
• These include several business leaders, including Mark Cuban, who has already supported Harris.
• Her goal is to convince more conservative voters that Harris is strong on the economy.

A group of CEOs and founders is launching a new initiative Friday called “Business Leader for Harris” — aimed at attracting business-minded, conservative-leaning swing voters to support Vice President Kamala Harris.

The initiative is led by a group of business titans that includes LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, billionaire investor Mark Cuban and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings. It was also attended by local business leaders from across the country, many of whom previously voted for former President Donald Trump.

In a series of video testimonials, each business leader explains why he is supporting Harris over Trump, often citing economic and business reasons rather than traditional Democratic priorities like abortion or social spending.

Former Merck CEO Ken Frazier, who resigned from Trump's manufacturing council in 2017 over the former president's comments about a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, said in his statement that Trump's proposed actions “clearly increase the debt and make it much more difficult for us.” will do.” deal with the deficit.

The Penn Wharton Budget Model has estimated that Trump's economic proposals would increase the national debt by $5.8 trillion over 10 years, while Harris' proposals would increase it by $1.2 trillion over the same period.

Hastings said in his testimony that he believed Harris would be an improvement over Biden “in many ways.”

“One of their differences is the level of their interest,” said the Netflix co-founder and investor.

The group also releases a podcast hosted by Hoffman. In the first episode, Cuban argues that Harris is listening to the business world.

“When it comes to real business, doing business, she's completely open-minded, isn't she? She has no preconceived ideas. She’s not an ideologue,” Cuban said. “She wants to know what I think, what everyone thinks. Whether you're a small business, a large corporation, a public company, a company with 500,000 employees, or an individual reseller on Etsy, she wants to know what's important to you, and she's ready to listen.

Since the start of her campaign, Harris has often tried to portray herself as more pro-business than Biden. She has proposed a lower corporate tax rate than Biden, and her policy page makes multiple mentions of venture capital and entrepreneurship.

Harris has already received significant support from the business community. Last month, more than 800 venture capitalists and nearly 90 business and technology executives pledged to support her campaign.