By Clare Duffy | CNN

New York  — With Vice President Kamala Harris the front runner to receive the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, America’s most powerful industry is set to have a candidate on the ballot from its home turf.

Top technology leaders are already showing their excitement for the Bay Area native, in the form of endorsements and donations for Harris, which have come from prominent names, such as longtime Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Netflix Co-Founder Reed Hastings and philanthropist Melinda French Gates.

The Harris supporters represent a foil to the loud and powerful — although not necessarily large — contingent of (mostly) men in tech who have endorsed Former President Donald Trump’s White House bid, including Elon Musk. The pro-Harris movement within tech suggests that the vice president’s policies, as well as her long and friendly relationship with many top executives in the tech world, may ultimately make her Silicon Valley’s top choice for the White House.

“There’s been a real shift in the Valley toward supporting Harris in a way that was not happening with Biden,” Aaron Levie, CEO of the cloud computing firm Box, told CNN. “I am pretty optimistic. I believe she has some appreciation for the different dynamics that we deal with in the tech industry, and how important of a role tech is going to play in the in the future of the economy and the country.”

Harris was born and began her political career in Oakland, California, a short ferry ride from the heart of the tech industry. She attended the wedding of early Facebook executive Sean Parker, and she’s appeared at events alongside Steve Jobs’ widow and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs. Harris’ failed 2020 presidential bid received support from various tech luminaries, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and legendary venture capitalist Ron Conway.

Despite her friendly relationships with the industry’s leaders, Harris has also pushed for tech accountability in key areas. As California’s attorney general, she went after tech companies for their role in online sexual harassment and revenge porn. As a California senator in 2018, Harris grilled Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over user privacy in a hearing following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

As vice president, Harris has taken a key role in the White House around establishing safety measures for artificial intelligence, which is widely viewed as the most consequential new technology in decades. Last year, Harris met with the chief executives of OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic on Capitol Hill to discuss AI safety measures and how to increase transparency among top tech firms and the government.

“When she wanted to solve problems, she would bring social activists, public policy experts and business leaders together in common forums. …She just felt we should have all the players around the table and understand the issues and (tech leaders) love that that kind of a dialogue,” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, told CNN.

Harris vs. Trump