Billionaire Mark Cuban said Democrats should consider a replacement for President Joe Biden after his poor debate performance—but megadonor Reid Hoffman called pushing Biden to drop out a “bad idea.”
Topline
President Joe Biden’s shaky performance in CNN’s presidential debate last week has sparked an outcry of concern from Democratic pundits and some donors, and at least two billionaire Biden supporters, including Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings.Key Facts
Hastings (worth $4.8 billion, according to Forbes’ estimates) argued Biden “needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump,” according to an email obtained by The New York Times, marking a 180 for the Democratic megadonor who, along with his wife Patty Quillin, contributed $1.4 million to the Biden campaign in 2020.
Billionaire investor, Dallas Mavericks minority owner and “Shark Tank” host Mark Cuban ($5.4 billion), a Biden supporter who attended a Biden fundraising event in March, told CNN last Saturday he wants to see polling to “find out if there are any potential replacements” who could outperform Trump in a hypothetical matchup.
Cuban, who previously supported former South Carolina GOP Gov. Nikki Haley in the GOP primary, told the outlet it’s “worth considering” a replacement for Biden to “step in and immediately change the race.”
In a post on X last week, Cuban added Biden’s “performance was awful” and the 81-year-old appeared “feeble,” though he also argued Trump “couldn’t directly answer a single question and lied with every response,” adding: “I’ll vote ethical every time.”
Reid Hoffman ($2.5 billion)—one of the biggest pro-Biden donors—urged supporters to stay the course, calling it a “bad idea” to push Biden to step down and arguing it could backfire if Biden decides to “prove the doubters wrong,” according to an email obtained The New York Times that lauded Biden’s “values, instincts, patriotism and courage” and said Biden could still win (Hoffman has donated $17.7 million to support Biden).
Meanwhile, Avram Glazer ($1.7 billion), the billionaire part-owner of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, did not shy away from reportedly hosting a campaign fundraiser for Biden at his home in East Hampton, New York, on Saturday.
