San Francisco, CA
Tech titans flood San Francisco mayoral race with big-dollar donations – Washington Examiner
Tech titans are heavily invested in San Francisco’s mayoral race, flooding millions of dollars into the tight political contest with less than a month to go before the election.
Billionaires and millionaires, such as Camilo Acosta, are fed up with the city’s political system, which is often accused of prioritizing progressive ideology over common sense. The city has a homelessness, crime, drug, and theft problem that has seen little improvement over the years.
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Acosta, who founded a start-up sold to Meta in 2020, told the Los Angeles Times his office had been broken into and his laptops looted. Another time, a homeless man wandered into his office in the middle of a manic episode.
Police offered little to no help during both terrifying incidents, he said.
Frustrated with the path San Francisco is on, Acosta, who currently runs a $30-million fund that invests in artificial intelligence, is opening up his wallet in the hope that his contributions will help chart a new course.
Acosta is throwing his financial weight behind Daniel Lurie, a nonprofit executive and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, who is in the running against incumbent Democratic Mayor London Breed.
There are 13 candidates in the high-stakes race, but the top five include Breed, Lurie, former interim Mayor Mark Ferrell, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, and Supervisor Ahsha Safai.
In addition to addressing San Francisco’s decadeslong problems, including a lagging post-pandemic economic recovery, the city is ushering in a new area of AI, and the tech industry is paying attention.
This year’s campaign contributions by wealthy tech executives, venture capitalists, and others woven into the industry mark a notable shift in their eagerness to reshape local politics. Two decades ago, San Francisco courted major tech companies with financial incentives and promises of a more active environment. Now, with its roots in deep, big tech wants more say in how the city is managed.
“It used to be that all of us down in Silicon Valley, people thought of San Francisco as an old-fashioned town, not a technology town,” Russell Hancock, president and chief executive of the think-tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley, said, adding that the view has “changed significantly” and that San Francisco has became “a major epicenter.”
Here are some of the big names who have donated to San Francisco’s mayoral contest.
Jan Koum, worth $15.2 billion, backing Lurie
Koum, co-founder and retired CEO of WhatsApp, has contributed $500,000 to a committee supporting Lurie. Koum is fairly new to San Francisco politics but has previously spent generously on various Jewish or pro-Israeli causes and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Chris Larsen, worth $3.1 billion, backing Breed
Larsen, a crypto billionaire, is ready to use his considerable clout and bank account to get Breed reelected.
Larsen, a self-made businessman and angel investor best known for co-founding Silicon Valley startup Ripple Labs, spent $750,000 before the March primary supporting two of Breed’s ballot measures that give law enforcement easy access to surveillance tools, such as drones and license plate readers, and another that demands accountability for welfare recipients.
He has also donated $600,000 to an independent committee backing Breed.
Tony Xu, worth $2.4 billion, backing Breed
Xu, a Chinese-American billionaire businessman, co-founded DoorDash with his friends at Stanford University in 2013. He led the company’s IPO in 2020, making him a billionaire at 36 years old.
Born in Nanjing, China, Xu immigrated to the United States when he was 5 years old.
He has given Breed’s camp $100,000.
Oleg Nodelman, worth at least $105 million, backing Lurie
Nodelman, founder of the biotech investment advisory firm EroR1, has given Laurie close to $500,000.
Before EcoR1, he was a portfolio manager at BVF Parkerts, one of the first hedge funds that invested in the biotech sector. He’s also a board member for three publicly traded companies focused on biotechnology.
Garrison Mason Morfit, net worth $75 million, backing Lurie
Morfit, CEO of ValueAct Holdings, gave $100,000 to “Believe in SF, Lurie for Mayor” PAC on Sept. 16.
ValueAct Capital is a San Francisco-based investment firm with more than $10 billion in assets under management. Morfit serves on the advisory council for Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and previously served on the board at Microsoft.
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Jonathan Gans, multimillionaire, backing Lurie
Gans, president of Ironwood Capital Management, has given Laurie $300,000.
He joined the firm in 1996 as a member of its Investment & Risks committee and is a trustee of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
A California sea lion pup found last week on a San Francisco street corner is malnourished but “active and quite feisty,” The Marine Mammal Center said Monday.
The sea lion, believed to be about 10 months old, had apparently wandered into city’s Outer Sunset neighborhood and was discovered early Thursday morning, authorities said.
The pup was spotted near 48th and Irving Streets, one block from Ocean Beach and Sunset Dunes park. A trained responder from the Marine Mammal Center was joined by San Francisco park rangers and police officers to safely corral the pup, now named ‘Irving’, into a carrier crate.
Dubbed ‘Irving’ by his rescuers, Irving weighed in at 40 pounds and is considered malnourished, the Marine Mammal Center said.
“The sea lion is active and quite feisty which is a positive initial sign in terms of general behavior,” the center said in a news release on Monday.
During an exam by veterinarians, a series of blood samples were also taken to determine whether there’s any underlying ailment.
Irving is being tube fed a fish smoothie blend two times per day to boost hydration and weight; offers of whole herring will also begin shortly.
The quick actions by police, recreation and parks staff and Ocean Avenue Animal Hospital gave the young sea lion a second chance at life, said Lauren Campbell, animal husbandry manager at The Marine Mammal Center.
“As a roughly 10-month-old pup in his first year of learning how to forage on his own, this animal has a long road to recovery due to his severe malnutrition,” Campbell said. “We are hopeful that in the coming weeks with continued specialized care that this pup starts to make positive strides toward recovery and release.”
Irving will be held in the Center’s Intensive Quarantine Unit until clearing medical protocols, before likely being transferred this week to a traditional rehabilitation pool pen. A long-term prognosis and potential release timeline are not currently known.
After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.
The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.
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So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.
Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.
Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.
The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.
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They just didn’t get the job done.
Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.
With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.
San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.
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Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.
The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.
All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.
Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.
That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.
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Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.
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