Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he won't be Hillary Clinton's running mate

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marc benioff hillary clinton salesforce

Getty Images/Justin Sullivan

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff with Hillary Clinton

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has often been mentioned as a possible running mate candidate for Hillary Clinton.

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Those rumors seemed to gain steam this week after Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington told MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle that Clinton was looking at "potentially bringing in" a business leader like Benioff or Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to her campaign, citing two unnamed sources.

But it looks like we could officially scratch off Benioff from the list of Clinton's running mate candidate list, as he told Business Insider he's not interested in the job.

"I'm flattered, but I already have a job. I support Hillary - she is by far the most qualified candidate to lead our country in these challenging times," Benioff told Business Insider in an email.

Benioff would have been a good running mate choice for Clinton. He's one of the most vocal business leaders when it comes to social and political issues, and has a good track record of pressuring certain lawmakers to make changes to potentially discriminatory law. His position also fit in well with the tech initiative plan Clinton had laid out earlier this week.

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There's been some speculation that Benioff's array of activist campaigns were aimed at one day running for office. Even some Salesforce employees questioned his real intent, and asked him about it at a recent all-hands meeting, to which Benioff responded, "I'd be a terrible politician," according to the WSJ.

The chances of seeing a Clinton-Benioff ticket is likely gone, but Clinton could still nab a tech billionaire as her running mate: Mark Cuban recently said he'd be "absolutely" consider being Clinton's running mate.

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