Meg Whitman, chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), told a group of Denver business people that she will not only vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton but will contribute money to her and recruit others to do the same.
“I am raising money, contributing funds, doing events around the country, anything I can to help Hillary win,” Whitman, a lifetime Republican, said, according to the Denver CBS affiliate. Before joining HP (HPQ), Whitman was chief executive of eBay (EBAY) and in 2010 she ran for governor in California, losing to current governor Jerry Brown.
For the 2016 presidential race, Whitman had supported New Jersey’s Republican governor Chris Christie during the primaries, but after he dropped out and backed nominee Donald Trump, Whitman blasted Trump’s candidacy. She then endorsed Clinton.
She is not in lockstep agreement with the candidate, however. Whitman supports, for example, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade pact that Clinton now opposes (but used to support).
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Whitman acknowledged that she’s had gotten some pushback, but most of the comments she’s gotten have been supportive.
“We need to compete globally with the right training, the right centers for excellence and frankly the right leadership and my believe that Hillary’s initiative on technology and innovation will help,” Whitman told assembled business leaders.
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Whitman told The Denver Post that Trump’s business record raises red flags. “He has gone bankrupt four times. Usually in business the sign of success is not having to declare bankruptcy four times,” she said.
While this is a high-profile and very public push for a Democrat, Whitman has crossed the aisle before: She endorsed Al Gore for president in 2000.
But, she noted to the CBS: “I am a Republican and will stay a Republican.”