Tech industry wins big in California primary election with millions spent paying off | California
Silicon Valley had a big night in the California primaries; This proved that the tens of millions of dollars funding candidates across the state were money well spent. While the tech industry’s preferred gubernatorial candidate came in sixth place, donations to smaller elections have proven to be a successful strategy.
Tech billionaires have thrown their full weight into politics in recent months as the industry battles regulation, taxation and supports the unfettered growth of artificial intelligence. Particularly in California, getting the right candidates into office is existentially important. With suitable candidates, tech companies can gain both political and regulatory leverage to maintain their dominance in the business world.
Tuesday’s primary election in California saw unprecedented spending, much of it from leading tech companies like Google and Meta, as well as dozens of executives and venture capitalists.
The candidate who made the most headlines was San Jose Democratic mayor Matt Mahan, who tipped his hat to the governorship in January and quickly became a Silicon Valley favorite. He has raised nearly $50 million in donations largely from the tech industry, including former and current executives from Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, DoorDash, Palantir and other companies, according to public records.
While his loss (Mahan conceded after receiving just 4% of the vote in preliminary results Tuesday night) hurt the tech industry, it was just one of several apparent wins. Scott Weiner, the tech world’s pick to replace Nancy Pelosi as senator, received the most votes and is heading into the midterm elections in November. With votes still being counted, Ben Allen, the industry’s pick for state insurance commissioner, also appears likely to advance.
Tech-funded super political action committees (Super Pacs) have also scored a string of wins in smaller district races for the state legislature across the state.
Grow California, which received a total of $20 million from crypto moguls Chris Larsen and Tim Draper, has contributed millions to six local races and also spent opposing five candidates, according to public records. California Leads, a Super Pac funded by a combined $10 million from Google and Meta, also spent millions supporting the state’s eight local council and senate candidates.
The long-term strategy of both Grow California and California Leads is to work with the state legislature to identify their preferred candidates; this is something both Super Pacs outline on their websites. Grow California’s stated goal is to “rebuild the state capital,” and California Leads writes, “Our work is based on a simple idea: Who serves in the State Legislature matters.”
One of the candidates to whom the Super Pacs donated heavily was Democrat Mark Pulido, who was running for state House in a small district in Orange County. He received nearly $2.25 million from the two Super Pacs and won the votes Tuesday to run in a runoff against the Republican candidate in November. All but one candidate in the races backed by Grow California and California Leads are heading to the November ballot.
The two Super Pacs appear to target mostly Democratic districts. They backed a preferred Democrat so the candidate would enter the midterms and essentially remove unfavorable Democrats from the ticket.
While the tech industry won handsomely on Tuesday, it also poured millions into losing races like Mahan’s, proving that political donations are an expensive business.
But election observers say the tech industry’s massive spending on primaries is just the beginning. “This was just a drop in the bucket of what was going to happen,” said Francesco Trebbi, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
“Come September, you will probably see records broken in midterm campaign spending,” Trebbi said. “It will be exponential.”
That’s bound to happen as the fight over California’s proposed one-time 5% wealth tax on billionaires nears a vote. Tech billionaires have already spent millions to repeal the tax, which is on the November ballot.
Grow California declined to comment and California Leads did not respond to a request for comment.
