Video Game Billionaire and Lifelong Democrat Mark Pincus Endorses Donald Trump for 2024 Presidential Race

Video game entrepreneur and long-time Democrat Mark Pincus announced Sunday that he would support Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election.

Pincus, the founder of gaming giant Zynga, cited troubling developments over the past year as his reasons for crossing party lines to endorse the former Republican president over Vice President Kamala Harris.

Despite previously donating $1 million to President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, Pincus took to social media to declare his decision, marking a significant departure from his history of supporting Democratic candidates.

“I am voting for Trump,” he posted, explaining that he has backed Democratic candidates in the past four presidential races with substantial donations, yet recent events have changed his perspective. “This past year, I have seen too much,” he wrote.

Among the primary concerns leading to his decision, Pincus pointed to what he perceives as deteriorating U.S.-Israel relations, a surge in antisemitic incidents across the country, and what he described as an assault on free speech. Pincus, who is Jewish, emphasised the importance of Israel as a key ally and the only democratic nation in the Middle East, underscoring that it is engaged in multiple conflicts with Iran.

“Israel is America’s most loyal ally and the only democracy in the Middle East,” he argued, suggesting that the current U.S. administration is no longer a reliable partner for Israel.

Pincus, whose net worth is reportedly over $1 billion, was previously among a group of prominent Democratic donors who publicly expressed concerns about Biden’s candidacy and encouraged him to step aside from the race.

In an interview with the Financial Times over the summer, he advocated for an open Democratic convention to determine the party’s nominee.

Following Biden’s decision to withdraw, Democratic leaders largely coalesced around Vice President Kamala Harris as the frontrunner, but Pincus has chosen to support Trump instead.

The 58-year-old business mogul, who founded Zynga in 2007 and named the company after his dog Zinga, is best known for launching popular games like FarmVille. A resident of California, Pincus acknowledged that his vote might have little impact in the heavily Democratic state, yet he felt compelled to share his stance publicly. “I know America will continue to be great under the Dems or Trump,” he wrote, “and yet I think America and Israel will be stronger under Trump.”

Pincus’s endorsement is part of a growing trend of high-profile Democratic donors reconsidering their political allegiances amid recent global and domestic concerns, signalling potential shifts in the dynamics of the upcoming election.