Michael Moritz, Democratic Megadonor, Urges Biden Exit: ‘Clock Has Run Out’

Michael Moritz, the billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist and a top Democratic donor, is calling for President Biden to step aside, becoming one of the party’s largest contributors to go public with his concerns about the president’s candidacy.

“Sadly, President Biden has a choice — vanity or virtue,” Mr. Moritz said in an email on Friday to The New York Times. “He can either condemn the country to dark and cruel times or heed the voice of Father Time. The clock has run out.”

Mr. Moritz has given $7.8 million to pro-Biden and anti-Trump causes so far in the 2024 election cycle, federal records show. Most of the money, $6.8 million, went to American Bridge PAC, which has run advertising against former President Donald J. Trump in key battleground states. He also gave $1 million to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, which Mr. Moritz has encouraged his network to support over the years.

Mr. Moritz said in a follow-up email that all of his giving to the party — not just to Mr. Biden — was now on hold.

“I would vote for Biden, but I would not give another penny to any fund-raising appeals from Democrats,” he wrote.

Mr. Moritz, a former reporter for Time magazine who wrote a book about Steve Jobs, is one of Silicon Valley’s most famed investors. Born in Wales, he spent decades leading Sequoia Capital, the tech industry’s most celebrated venture capital firm. Like some other tech executives, he decided to become hyper-involved in partisan politics only after Mr. Trump’s election in 2016.

Mr. Moritz joins other Silicon Valley leaders, such as the Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and the Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus, in calling for Mr. Biden to step aside. On Friday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris is set to address some