John Podesta says Hillary Clinton will work harder to win over Silicon Valley (and everyone else)

Silicon Valley was bowled over by Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton, not so much.

The chair of Clinton's campaign said the Democratic party's likely presidential nominee is gathering support in the tech community — and plans to spend the time interacting with people to win the backing of the industry's most influential players.

"We’ve gotten more support from tech leaders across Silicon Valley and I think that we welcome that," said John Podesta in remarks Thursday at the Code Conference. "They want to know if she's on the level, and that takes a lot of being able to interact."

Podesta has been a major figure in the Democratic party for the past two decades, serving as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, founder of the Center for American Progress and serving as a top adviser to President Barack Obama. Now he’s working to elect Hillary Clinton.

He talked about issues that have been a drag on Hillary Clinton campaign, notably the ongoing controversy about her use of a private email account while conducting business as Secretary of State, and a hard-fought primary battle with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The Republican party's presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, has been trolling her on Twitter, disparaging her as "Crooked Hillary" — a nickname she's been unable to shake or respond to in kind.

"She's taken flack from both the left and the right," Podesta acknowledged.

But once the primary is over, with the final round of primaries next week, Podesta predicted Clinton will begin to gain momentum in Silicon Valley and elsewhere around the country.

"We’ll probably roll out a group of tech leaders who support her before the election," Podesta said. "I think that will be an impressive list."

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This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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