Hillary Clinton is adding to the roster of CEOs backing her candidacy.
The Clinton campaign on Friday rolled out a list of 40 business executives endorsing the Democratic nominee—a tech-heavy list that includes PayPal chairman John Donahoe, Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Opower founder Alex Laskey, and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. They join a group of 52 other business leaders that the campaign announced over the summer.
The announcement comes as Clinton continues to press the case that she’d be a stronger economic steward than Donald Trump. A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll released Wednesday showed her with a six-point lead over Trump nationally, a solid advantage after she saw her standing falter earlier in the month. But the survey showed Trump still edges her, 46%-41%, on the question of who’d be better for the economy—the only issue on which he beats her in a head-to-head matchup.
The Clinton campaign has made a priority of recruiting corporate leaders, viewing them as potentially potent validators who can help the candidate appeal to moderate voters. The campaign has tapped former Wal-Mart executive Leslie Dach to head up the effort, but others, including campaign chairman John Podesta, have also pitched in to help close the deal with especially big fish. And Clinton herself talked by phone several times with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, a prominent California Republican and former gubernatorial candidate there, to bring her aboard. Whitman is now fundraising for the campaign and tapping her network for more endorsers.
The list of new backers released Friday includes some expected names. DreamWorks chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg hosted an event for Clinton at his home back in April. Danny Meyer, the restaurateur behind Shake Shack, likewise hosted a fundraiser for the candidate at his New York City apartment earlier this week. And fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg created a teeshirt for Clinton that the campaign offers for sale on its website.
In a release announcing the endorsements, Podesta said the campaign is “fortunate a growing number of business leaders recognize Hillary Clinton is the right candidate for the economy. Donald Trump’s plan would balloon the debt while costing jobs—setting our economy back and leaving the middle class out in the cold.”
