By Venture capitalist and Democratic megadonor Ron Conway has spoken directly with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Conway suggested to Pelosi that the president’s performance raised the odds of a victory for former President Donald Trump in November, said the individuals, who were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about a sensitive topic.
Conway is founder and a managing partner of the venture capital firm SV Angel. He and his wife have given more than $5 million to help elect Democrats so far this cycle.
And Conway’s conversations are not limited to Pelosi.
An ally of Conway’s in the tech community told CNBC that the investor has been among a group of donors and party leaders who “decided to light a brushfire for Biden to step aside.”
The talks with Pelosi were in the buildup to Pelosi’s Wednesday interview on MSNBC, in which she refused to explicitly endorse Biden, these people explained.
Representatives for both Pelosi and Conway did not deny that the California Democrat and unofficial dean of the House Democratic caucus had spoken to Conway about Biden.
“Following the debate, the Speaker’s phone exploded with calls expressing a number of views,” a spokesman for Pelosi told CNBC.
“Like many others, since the debate Ron has had many conversations with Democratic party leaders and other major donors about the best path forward for victory. He’s not going to comment on these private conversations,” said a spokesman for Conway.
A RealClearPolitics polling average shows Trump ahead of Biden by about 2 percentage points as of Friday.
It’s unclear what Pelosi said to Conway, or whether the two have spoken since Biden’s news conference on Thursday.
Biden’s remarks touched on foreign policy, he called Vice President Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” and said he would only consider getting out of the race if polling data were to show “there’s no way” he could win.
This nonetheless represented a slight shift from Biden’s remarks last week to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, in which he said only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to leave the race.
Conway represents a crucial voice within the Democratic Party’s fundraising apparatus in California and the tech community of Silicon Valley.
Conway was one of Biden’s bundlers during his 2020 campaign, raising at least $100,000 for his campaign against Trump, according to OpenSecrets.
Conway donated at least $600,000 in 2023 to Future Forward, a political action committee backing Biden. He’s given more than $400,000 to the Biden Victory Fund throughout the 2024 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Conway and Pelosi, both California power players in their own ways, have been close for years. Conway has hosted fundraisers for House Democrats, and photos show Pelosi attending.
Conway gave more than $200,000 to the Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund during the 2022 congressional midterm elections, according to OpenSecrets.
Conway is far from the only major Democratic donor who has turned on Biden in the last three weeks.
Stewart Bainum Jr., chairman of Choice Hotels and a six-figure Biden donor, told CNBC after the debate he believes the president should step down. He also said he won’t help the president until after the August Democratic convention in Chicago because he’s not convinced Biden is going to be the nominee.
Abigail Disney, an heiress to the Disney family fortune and a Democratic donor, said on July 4 she won’t be funding the party until Biden drops out.
“I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket. This is realism, not disrespect,” Disney said at the time.
