A campaign putting out a list of big name endorsements isn't particularly remarkable. But what is remarkable about the Clinton campaign's list is that it includes prominent Republican executives — business leaders who say they have never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in their lives.
Take Jim Cicconi, the senior executive vice president at AT&T. He served in both the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and donated $10,000 last year to Jeb Bush's Right to Rise superPAC. But he says he's voting for Hillary Clinton in November.
In a statement put out by the Clinton campaign, Cicconi said he thinks it is "vital to put our country's well being ahead of party."
Cicconi went on, "Hillary Clinton is experienced, qualified, and will make a fine President. The alternative, I fear, would set our Nation on a very dark path."
This from a man who says he has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since 1976.
The former CEO of General Motors put it even more bluntly.
"Serving as the leader of the free world requires effective leadership, sound judgment, a steady hand and most importantly, the temperament to deal with crises large and small," said Dan Akerson in a statement endorsing Clinton. "Donald Trump lacks each of these characteristics."
Nine of the business leaders on Clinton's list have given to Republican presidential candidates or their superPACs this election cycle, according to data from the Center For Responsive Politics and the Federal Election Commission. (Though it's not unusual for wealthy individuals to hedge and donate to members of both parties.)
Hillary Clinton is experienced, qualified, and will make a fine President. The alternative, I fear, would set our Nation on a very dark path.
For Clinton's campaign, these endorsements are part of an effort to show that "reasonable Republicans," as Clinton once called them in a speech, are lining up behind her. In speeches, Clinton has questioned Donald Trump's business acumen, and a long list of business leaders choosing her over the businessman also sends a message.
The list includes less surprising endorsements from leaders in the technology sector and those known to support Democrats including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Reed Hastings from Netflix, Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook and Warren Buffett.
Notably missing are executives from banking and other Wall Street firms. The energy sector is also largely absent. And, of the 10 largest public U.S. companies, the only active CEO on the list is Warren Buffett.
Clinton's campaign added that it expects to make additional announcements.
Here is the full list:
Miki Agrawal, founder and CEO of Thinx
Dan Akerson, former chairman and CEO of General Motors
Richard Anderson, executive chairman, Delta Air Lines Inc.
Stewart Bainum Jr., chairman of Choice Hotels International
James Bell, former interim CEO of Boeing; former corporate president and CFO of Boeing
Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce
Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder and CTO of Airbnb
Jeff Brotman, co-founder and chairman of Costco Wholesale Corp.
Warren E. Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Robert Burt, retired chairman, CEO FMC Corp.; former chairman Business Roundtable
Ron Busby, president and CEO of the U.S. Black Chambers
Brook Byers, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Peter Chernin, CEO, The Chernin Group
Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb
Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice president, AT&T Services Inc.
David Crane, former CEO of NRG Energy Inc.
Erroll Davis, retired chancellor, University System of Georgia
Barry Diller, chairman and senior executive of IAC and Expedia
John Doerr, partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, and Byers
Margot Dorfman, president and CEO of U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce
Candy Ergen, co-founder, DISH Network
Joe Gebbia, co-founder and CPO of Airbnb
Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix
Reid Hoffman, partner at Greylock
Drew Houston, founder and CEO of Dropbox
George Hume, president and CEO of Basic American Foods
Irwin Jacobs, founding chairman and CEO Emeritus of Qualcomm
Paul Jacobs, executive chairman, Qualcomm
Leila Janah, founder and CEO of Sama and Laxmi
Earvin "Magic" Johnson, chairman and CEO, Magic Johnson Enterprises
Robert Johnson, chairman, The RLJ Cos. and founder of Black Entertainment Television
Andrea Jung, CEO of Grameen America, and former CEO of Avon
Lynn Jurich, CEO and co-founder of Sunrun
David Karp, founder and CEO of Tumblr
Ellen Kullman, former chair and CEO of DuPont
Debra Lee, chairman and CEO of Black Entertainment Television
Ted Leonsis, founder and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box
Peter Lowy, CEO of Westfield
Monica Lozano, former chairman and CEO, U.S. Hispanic Media
Rob Marcus, former chairman and CEO Time Warner Cable Inc.
William L. McComb, CEO (retired) of Liz Claiborne & Fifth and Pacific Companies Inc.
Rebecca Minkoff, founder of Rebecca Minkoff
Hamid R. Moghadam, chairman and CEO of Prologis
James J. Murren, chairman and CEO, MGM Resorts International and chairman, MGM Growth Properties
Charles Phillips, CEO of Infor
Mark Pincus, co-founder of Zynga
Laura M. Ricketts, co-owner, Chicago Cubs
Gary Rodkin, CEO (retired) of ConAgra Foods
Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet
Jim Sinegal, co-founder, director and former CEO of Costco
Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO and co-founder, Yelp
Walter Ulloa, chairman and CEO, Entravision Communications Corp.
Wendell P. Weeks, chairman of the board, CEO and president, Corning Inc.
Anne Wojcicki, CEO and co-founder, 23andme
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
