Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard asked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to host a fundraiser for her, but he declined.
Dorsey contributed $5,600 to the Hawaii Democrat’s campaign last year, according to the Federal Election Commission database. He made the same donation to Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who dropped out of the race in August, as well as $6,600 to Andrew Yang’s campaign.
Gabbard’s campaign made the request late last year, according to Vox. Dorsey signaled interest in co-hosting a fundraiser alongside Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, but they struggled to find a date that would work.
Dorsey, 43, eventually turned her down, explaining he was trying to stay focused on policy areas and didn’t want to be seen as endorsing specific candidates, a person close to him said.
“I’ve made personal contributions because I appreciate Andrew’s focus on the coming displacement of work due to AI and automation, and Tulsi’s strong anti-war stance,” Dorsey tweeted last summer. “Along with systematically addressing climate change and economic injustice, these are the key issues of global consequence I want to see considered and discussed more.”
[Also read: ‘Blatant effort to intimidate’: Tulsi Gabbard defends suing Hillary Clinton over ‘Russian asset’ claim]
This early it’s all about being allowed to debate. I’ve made personal contributions because I appreciate Andrew’s focus on the coming displacement of work due to AI and automation, and Tulsi’s strong anti-war stance. I believe their voices are important to surface in the debates. https://t.co/Z24o2E4cmV
— jack ??? (@jack) July 19, 2019
Gabbard, 38, said last year she would “absolutely” consider breaking up Twitter if her presidential bid is successful.
