By Alexandra Ulmer and Dawn Chmielewski

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s selection of JD Vance as his vice presidential candidate raised hopes among Silicon Valley conservatives on Tuesday that they would gain for the first time by having a tech buddy within reach of the White House.

“WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH, BABY,” Delian Asparouhov, a partner at billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, wrote on social media site X.

Vance, author of the best-selling autobiography “Hillbilly Elegy,” a Yale Law graduate and later a San Francisco venture capitalist, rose rapidly through the ranks of American politics.

At age 39, he had served just two years in the United States Senate, representing the state of Ohio.

The Republican National Convention on Monday formally nominated Trump and Vance as its candidates to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election.

Some right-wing investors have begun recycling Vance’s senior tweets and have begun advocating for friendlier regulation of everything from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrencies.

“He has direct contact with some of the big influencers when he’s evaluating or weighing in on some of the tech policy issues,” said Matt Murphy, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, noting the time-honored divide between Washington and Silicon Valley.

During the campaign, Vance used his experience to serve as a bridge between Trump associates and wealthy Silicon Valley donors, many of whom opened their wallets to Trump in this election.

Republicans are a minority in the staunchly leftist San Francisco Bay Area, although tech industry conservatives including Thiel, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and entrepreneur Elon Musk have become more vocal.

Buoyed by the promises of technology, they complain about what they see as unnecessary restrictions placed on their businesses by progressive politicians and workers.

Vance rode that wave, aided by Thiel, who poured about $15 million into Vance’s successful 2022 U.S. Senate campaign and invested in VC firm Narya, which he founded in 2019.

Silicon Valley conservatives say they see Vance as one of their own, even if they differ on some issues.

Despite his background, Vance has said gigantic tech companies have too much influence and has called for breaking up Google (NASDAQ:) — a position that runs counter to conservatives who chafe at government regulation.

Venture capitalist and cryptocurrency investor Tim Draper, who endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, said he hopes Vance is “more of a venture capitalist than a lawyer.”

“A clear understanding of how freedom and startups drive growth in our economy is critical to the continued success of Silicon Valley, our nation’s goose of gold,” Draper said.

Draper viewed Vance’s cryptocurrency investments as a sign that he “probably understands (intuitively) the future economy to some degree,” he said, using a term popular in tech circles. Grok is also the name of a ChatGPT challenger from Musk’s xAI startup.

According to his October 2023 federal affidavit, Vance had more than $100,000 in his capital account in 2022.

The Trump-Vance campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Vance’s ties to Silicon Valley, his proposed technology policies and whether he still owns the cryptocurrency.

Asked whether the Trump-Vance ticket would seek to break up Google, Trump’s son and adviser Donald Jr., who favored Vance for the No. 2 job, told Reuters at a convention in Milwaukee: “I’ll let them discuss some of the intricacies of the platform … but I like his (Vance’s) understanding of the technology.”

Vance introduced Donald Trump Jr. to entrepreneur and investor David Sacks and helped organize a June fundraiser at Sacks’ San Francisco estate that raised $12 million for the former president.

According to a source familiar with the matter, Sacks thanked Vance in his speech at the event, saying “it all started with J.D. Vance calling and asking if we could do an event for President Trump.”

As Reuters reported at the time, the former president used the June event to present himself as a champion of cryptocurrencies and criticized Democratic attempts to regulate the sector.