Democratic Billionaires and Donors Rush to Back Harris After Biden’s Exit

Democratic donors are immediately mobilizing around Kamala Harris as their party’s next presidential nominee, offering Democratic elites something they have not felt in weeks.

Optimism.

Advisers and major givers said on Sunday that they were being inundated with enthusiasm and word of planned donations to support Ms. Harris if she became the official Democratic candidate.

Multiple Biden donors and their advisers said that they were hearing from previously despondent donors who were ready to give to support a Harris-led ticket. One Silicon Valley bundler raised over $1 million in a 30-minute period, the person shared.

Alexandra Acker-Lyons, a Democratic donor-adviser who has spent the last few days behind the scenes trying to raise pledges for Ms. Harris, said that she had “gotten a barrage of emails, texts and calls” with promises to give. “People who hadn’t given at all asking where to give,” she said.

The endorsements came in hard and fast on Sunday afternoon from the Democratic Party’s billionaire donors. Reid Hoffman, the Democratic mega-donor who was among Mr. Biden’s strongest supporters over the last few weeks amid the chaos, endorsed Ms. Harris for the presidency. Another major billionaire backer of Mr. Biden, Alex Soros, said he was endorsing her as well.The nods also came from Democratic groups. Way to Win, a major Democratic donor group with many members who are partial to Ms. Harris, said that they were backing her.

“Way to Win is going all-in behind Harris, President Biden’s chosen successor,” said Jen Fernandez Ancona, one of the group’s co-founders. “She embodies the passing of a torch to a new generation at a time when that is desperately needed to shore up our diverse, winning coalition.”

Another immediate supporter on Sunday was Emily’s List, a big-money Democratic group that boosts women who support abortion rights and backed Ms. Harris during her vice presidency.

Steve Phillips, a Democratic donor and longtime supporter of Ms. Harris, said that the “party should rally behind the vice president to be the standard-bearer this fall.”

Not everyone was ready to immediately crown Ms. Harris. Vinod Khosla, a billionaire venture capitalist and a major Democratic donor in his own right, said that he wanted to see an open convention and mentioned a few candidates that he liked — including Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. “Time to have an open convention and get a more moderate candidate who can easily beat @realDonaldTrump,” he says. (Ms. Whitmer said soon after Mr. Biden’s announcement on Sunday that she would not seek the nomination.)

Reed Hastings, the Netflix chief executive who was one of the earliest mega-donors to call for Mr. Biden to step aside, did not back Ms. Harris explicitly as the nominee but was suddenly sanguine: “We have hope now. Dem delegates need to pick a swing state winner. Thank you, Joe Biden,” he told The New York Times in an email.

Others on Sunday were in a more nostalgic mood, ruminating on Mr. Biden’s decision.

Gideon Stein, who had become a leading figure in the donor community pushing for a new nominee, called Mr. Biden “a true American hero,” and predicted that the decision would pave the way for a Democratic victory in the presidential race.

Daniella Ballou-Aares, the chief executive of a group called Leadership Now Project that had spearheaded calls from business executives for Mr. Biden to drop his campaign, compared his decision to George Washington’s decision to not seek a third term as the nation’s first president. In a text message, she called Mr. Biden’s decision “a historic precedent for selfless leadership” and “a sign of the strength of American democracy.”

Kenneth P. Vogel contributed reporting.