By CHICAGO — Vice President Kamala Harris’ allies in the business community are privately making a pitch to CEOs about why they should back her over former President Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.
At private parties and meetings during the Democratic National Convention, corporate executives close to Harris told CNBC they are delivering a message tailored to major players in finance, tech and law.
Their pitch argues that a Harris presidency will be good for business because she wants to create a strong economy that will help the middle class. They also make the case that a Harris administration would provide business a degree of certainty on public policy front that would not exist in a Trump White House, these people said.
Individuals engaged in this effort were granted anonymity in order to describe private conversations.
At a party on Tuesday for tech executives and New York Democratic lawmakers, the conversations partially revolved around how to reel in major players in tech to support Harris, including those who align more closely with the GOP than with Democrats. Among the guests was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The shindig was at Chicago’s Bunker., organized by Tech:NYC, a tech industry group that lists Bloomberg, Google, Meta, Union Square Ventures and Yahoo as its founding members.
Another topic that comes up frequently this week is what positions might need to be filled in a potential Harris administration.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. approached businessman and longtime Harris ally Charlies Phillips on Wednesday at The Peninsula Chicago hotel, and told him she thought he should have a post in a Harris Treasury Department.
When this speculation turns to Treasury secretaries in a potential Harris administration, one of the names being discussed within Harris’ circle at the convention this week is JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A JP Morgan Chase spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment on the speculation.
Any support from CEOs could provide another boost to Harris’ already massive campaign war chest. Harris’ campaign raised over $200 million in July and had nearly $220 million on hand going into August, according to new Federal Election Commission records.
Harris fundraiser and former Evercore vice chair Charles Myers hosted a briefing for about 60 CEOs and CFOs Tuesday at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, according to an attendee.
The panel featured Harris campaign advisor Gene Sperling and Rebecca Patterson, a former chief investment strategist at investment giant Bridgewater Associates, according this person.
The panel’s “message was, Trump’s economic plan of higher tariffs and undermining Fed independence will seriously diminish” established trade deals between the U.S. and their allies, this person explained.
Trump has said that if he returns to the White House, he will seek a minimum 10% tariff on goods from around the world. He’s also said that the president “should have at least say” in setting interest rates, a potential challenge to the independence of the Federal Reserve.
A similar panel was led by Blackstone vice chairman Tom Nides, according to an attendee. This one featured Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and a former commerce secretary, Penny Pritzker.
Harris “is more interested in working with business and labor side by side,” Pritzker said during a separate Bloomberg event at the convention. “Corporate America is curious and open and interested in working with her, and she’ll take advantage of that opportunity.”
The lobbying campaign underway to win corporate support for Harris comes after her campaign released the first pieces of Harris’ economic policy plan last week.
That plan includes a goal of producing 3 million new affordable housing units, enacting a federal ban on “price gauging” in the grocery industry, and well as $6,000 tax credit for families with newborn children.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that Harris’ plan would raise deficits by $1.7 trillion over the next 10 years, the nonprofit budget hawks said in a new report.
Following the report, Harris proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% to help pay for her proposals.
Strategists and Democrats in Congress are acutely aware that in order to realize Harris’ economic plan, Democrats must have majority control of both the House and the Senate.
Helping Democrats flip the House was the purpose of a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser on Tuesday.
There, lawmakers told potential donors that if they hope to see any of Harris’ plans become reality, they must help Democrats retake the House, according to a person who was at the meeting.
