The announcement by former President Trump that Sen. JDVance (R-Ohio), as his running mate, will strengthen the Republican ticket with conservatives from Silicon Valley who are increasingly consolidating around the former president.

The former venture capitalist, 39, joins the GOP ticket at a time when a growing number leaders in Silicon Valley – once considered to be a liberal bastion – have rallied behind Trump. This is especially true in light of the assassination plot against the former president that occurred last weekend.

Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul who owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social platform X, formally endorsed Trump Saturday shortly after a shooting occurred at a Pennsylvania campaign rally. Musk’s support for Trump marks a pivotal moment in the career of the Tesla, SpaceX, and X social platform owner, who previously supported Democrats.

Bhaskarchakravorti is the dean of the Fletcher School, Tufts University, and he said that Elon had been showing signs in the last few months that he was leaning towards the Republican party. “He had been leaning this way anyway, so this was a perfect time for him to formalize it.”

Musk is not the only wealthy tech leader who has switched sides. Several others, including former Democrats donors like Musk are also now supporting Trump. They join a small group of conservatives who already exist in Silicon Valley and an increasing number of cryptocurrency investors that are unhappy with the Biden Administration’s approach towards the digital asset industry.

The group that greeted Vance’s inclusion on the Republican ticket was ecstatic about the news.

Jacob Helberg is a senior adviser for the CEO of Palantir Technologies. Helberg said on X in a blog post that Ohio Senator John Kasich “will be a historical and uniquely capable vice president.” Helberg was once a prominent Democratic Donor, who reportedly gave $1 million to Trump’s campaign.

Balaji Srinivasan, an investor, described Vance as a great choice for Vice President because of his “successful” tech investing history and his “understanding” of “media, finance, technology, and politics.”

David Sacks is a venture capitalist and long-time GOP donor. He hosted a fundraiser at his San Francisco house in June for the former President. Sacks praised the Marine Corps veteran, calling him an “American patriot,” saying, “This person I want at Trump’s side.”

He wrote: “God bless JD and God bless Trump. God bless America.”

Sacks praised Vance and Trump during his speech at the Republican National Convention held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Monday.

According to Axios, Sacks and Musk, along with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, were part of a lobbying campaign that pushed for Vance in the last minute.

Vance is known for his “Hillbilly Elegy” memoir, which was made into a movie. He has strong ties to the technology world but has been a vocal critic of the huge power that the largest tech companies hold. Vance, who graduated from Yale Law School in 2015. joined Peter Thiel’s venture capital company Mithril Capital. In 2019, he founded Narya in Ohio.

Vance is now one of Trump’s most prominent supporters in the Senate, and a strong advocate for his policies. Before his Senate election in 2022, Vance was a critic to the former president. He has called Trump “idiot”, “noxious”, and described him “America’s Hitler.”

Vance stated in May that he had been “wrong’ about his remarks about Trump from 2016.

Vance, a member of the growing populist movement within the GOP has been able to gain the support of many progressive members of Congress. This is especially true when it comes to issues relating the reining in of the power of technology giants.

Vance, at a Bloomberg-hosted event in February, offered his support to Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan. Khan is a target of GOP attacks.

Vance stated that “a lot of my Republican co-workers look at Lina and say, ‘Well Lina is engaged in some sort fundamental evil thing.

Vance’s anti Big Tech agenda also aligns with figures on the right who have criticised large tech companies for allegedly censoring conservatives in online forums.

These allegations were strengthened when, in 2021, mainstream platforms like Twitter and Facebook booted Trump after his comments about the riots at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Twitter, now X, under Musk’s ownership, allowed Trump to rejoin the platform after the change of ownership. Meta-owned Facebook also lifted the ban on Trump’s page.

Stacy Rosenberg is an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. She says that voters are likely to be less aware of Vance’s background in the tech industry and will instead pay attention his position on hot-button issues such as reproductive health access and firearm rights.

She added that his background in venture capital could be an asset for bringing additional resources from the technology industry and aligned Super PACs.

Federal Election Commission records reveal that a newly formed pro Trump super PAC called America PAC has received large sums of money from Musk’s close allies in the last month.

Palantir Technologies’ co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Doug Leone, a Sequoia Capital partner, and Antonio Gracias CEO of Valor Equity Partners all donated $1 million.

Shaun Maguire contributed another $500,000 while Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss – the founders of Gemini, a crypto firm best known for its role in founding Facebook – each gave $250,000.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Musk, the richest person in the world with a net wealth of over $250 billion dollars, will commit $45 million a year to America PAC.

Rosenberg suggested that the support of some leaders in the tech industry could be a sign they are betting on Trump’s victory.

She said that there could be an element of strategy here from a business standpoint, where people want to be involved and show support for those who are likely to control these contracts.

Chakravorti said that after the shooting last weekend, momentum has “shifted significantly” in favor of Trump.

According to The Hill/Decision Desk’s national average polling, the former president currently leads Biden by 1.7 percentage points less than four months before the election.

After a poor performance by Biden in a debate held late in June, Democrats are in a state of disarray. Some have even called for the 81 year-old president’s withdrawal from the race. Trump, meanwhile, has gained confidence after the assassination plot on Saturday and his dismissal of federal charges for improperly keeping classified documents.

“I think that a lot tech people, finance folk and other industry folk are going to lean towards Trump because they do not want to get on wrong side of the what they believe is the presumptive administration.