Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, adding he would hold a fundraiser for the Democratic candidate at his house in Miami later this month.
Most tech executives—with the prominent exception of PayPal (PYPL) co-founder Peter Thiel—have backed Clinton. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) CEO Meg Whitman, who has run for office as a Republican, has also endorsed Clinton and made a campaign contribution. And Apple (AAPL) CEO Tom Cook hosted a fundraiser for Clinton in August, though he did not make a public endorsement.
Claure came out publicly for the Democratic candidate.
“As the campaign has progressed it has become abundantly clear that we need Hillary to win in November,” Claure said in an email to potential attendees that was obtained by Coins2Day. “No matter the issue, from immigration reform to national security, Hillary has the steadiness, experience and temperament to lead our country. Donald Trump is just too risky.”
The Sprint (S) CEO was seeking contributions of $10,000 to $50,000 for the dinner with Clinton. The email noted that Claure was inviting donors to “a personal invitation, not a corporate event.”
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Claure moved from Miami to Kansas City, Mo. Two years ago when he took the top job at Sprint. But before moving to Sprint, the Bolivian-born executive had run BrightStar, the company he founded, from Miami.
Trump has made a series of tough, even hostile statements about immigrants and people of Latin heritage. Claure, a naturalized U.S. Citizen, was honored by the Carnegie Corporation earlier this year as standout immigrant along 41 others, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and actress and comedian Samantha Bee.
Claure sold BrightStar to Sprint majority-owner and SoftBank CEO Madayoshi Son in 2014, becoming a billionaire in the process. His two-year tenure at Sprint has revived the wireless carrier’s growth prospects and sent its stock up 45% over the past year.
The tech industry, in general, has favored Clinton over Trump with its donations. Trump received a total of just $225,000 in donations from the entire tech sector, compared with $6.1 million given to the former Secretary of State, according to research by Crowdpac.
