California
Here are the 100 California residents giving the most in the race for the White House
When it comes to presidential fundraising, California is a juggernaut.
The Golden State is home to a large group of uber-wealthy donors with some of the deepest pockets in the nation — money that could help swing the presidential election next week between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Harris would be expected to have a clear fundraising advantage: she’s a California native who served as the state’s junior senator and attorney general. Trump has frequently bashed California and its leaders on a range of issues and in the 2020 presidential campaign lost the state by nearly 20 percentage points.
In 2020, President Joe Biden’s campaign raised more than $145 million from Californians, the most from any state in the nation, campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission showed.
While California is overwhelmingly Democratic, it is a major source of Republican campaign dollars — Trump raised $333 million in the state for his 2016 campaign committee, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Times analyzed federal election data to identify the biggest donors hoping to sway voters in this year’s race. The records reviewed include individual contributions from donors residing in California as of Sept. 30.
Not surprisingly, Harris supporters dominate the list of largest donors, taking up 89 of the top 100 spots. In fact, 48 of the top 50 givers from California all donated to pro-Harris fundraising committees.
Looking at her top 100 donors nationwide, Harris is getting a much larger share of support from big-time California contributors. Those state residents have collectively given more than $53 million — over half of the total $102 million received from her biggest donors.
It’s a completely different picture for those supporting Trump. Only nine of his top 100 donors were from California, giving over $8 million combined, or just 5% of the $161 million haul from his largest givers.
Here’s a closer look at some of the biggest donors in the state.
Megadonors come out strong for Harris
Haim Saban, Chairman/CEO of the Saban Capital Group: $1,852,599
Haim Saban
(Willy Sanjuan / Willy Sanjuan/invision/ap)
The Israeli American billionaire has been an outspoken supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. In October, Saban said Harris was clearly the better choice for the US-Israel relationship and Israel’s safety and security.
“Kamala Harris has a stellar record throughout her career, strengthening this critical alliance,” he wrote in an opinion piece. “Unlike Trump, Harris has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the American Jewish community and Israel. The choice for Jewish voters and all voters could not be more straightforward.”
The Hollywood media mogul has been a reliable ally for Democrats, hosting a Biden fundraiser at his sprawling Beverly Park estate in February. Tickets to the fundraiser cost up to $250,000 and actor Jane Fonda and comedian Greg Proops were reported to have attended.
Reid Hoffman, venture capitalist at Greylock: $1,682,600
Reid Hoffman
(Getty Images)
The LinkedIn co-founder has also donated $7 million to the Future Forward PAC, a Democratic super PAC. Hoffman drew criticism in July for calling for Harris to oust Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan, who has brought antitrust cases against Big Tech and introduced rules to protect workers.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Hoffman explained his support for Harris and said he believes Trump’s plan for increased tariffs would hurt the economy.
“Tariffs and trade wars are terrible ideas for businesses, terrible for Silicon Valley,” Hoffman said. “I think stability and trying to actually have institutions and the rule of law are more important than a 2% cut in a tax rate.”
Steven Spielberg, filmmaker: $1,429,600
Steven Spielberg
(Charles Sykes / Invision / Associated Press)
The growing unease with Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June led some celebrities to call for him to drop out of the race. Once Harris took the Democratic mantle, Hollywood heavyweights began giving more to the vice president, including Spielberg who gave an additional $500,000 in late September, federal election data shows.
“We are all in for Kamala and have been since the moment she announced,” said Andy Spahn, a Los Angeles political consultant to Spielberg and other media moguls. “Tremendous excitement and energy here around Kamala’s candidacy. We are all in.”
Sean Parker, owner of Parker Media, LLC: $1,389,250
Sean Parker
(SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Parker is best known as the founder of Napster and first president of Facebook where he made his fortune. The Silicon Valley tech billionaire depicted in the film “The Social Network” is now a venture capital investor and has gotten more into traditional politics over the years.
In 2016, he hosted a fundraiser at his Los Angeles home that netted $1 million in donations for Hillary Clinton.
He used his tech influence to push for the creation of the Opportunity Zone program, an economic development tool that aimed to encourage investment in low-income communities through tax incentives. However, a Times report found it has instead generated billions of dollars’ worth of tax breaks for the wealthy often in pursuit of luxury high-rises, high-end hotels and swank office space.
Seth MacFarlane, founder of Fuzzy Door Productions: $1,023,000
Seth MacFarlane
(Dan Steinberg / Invision For The Television Academy)
The creator of “Family Guy” and “American Dad!” has been making big donations to Democrats in recent elections. In 2016, he gave more than $716,700 to two political action committees supporting Clinton’s presidential bid.
After MacFarlane contributed $2.5 million to Democrats in 2018, his company, Fuzzy Door Productions, was ranked second in Hollywood giving behind DreamWorks SKG, according to data from OpenSecrets.org, a nonprofit research group tracking money in U.S. politics.
Scooter Braun, founder of SB Projects: $519,600
Scooter Braun
(Richard Shotwell / Richard Shotwell/invision/ap)
The former music manager has worked with pop stars including Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift. He also famously feuded with Swift over the rights to her master recordings.
After Swift endorsed Harris for president in September, Trump posted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” on his social media site Truth Social. Braun quickly made his own endorsement on Instagram: “Shake It Off Donald,” he wrote. “Kamala 2024.”
Trump’s biggest boosters
Barbara Grimm-Marshall, former co-owner of Grimmway Farms: $1,256,600
Barbara Grimm-Marshall
(Alex Horvath / The Californian)
The Bakersfield resident is the former co-owner of the world’s largest grower of carrots. In 2020, half of all baby carrots consumed in the U.S. were processed by Grimmway Farms, which was later sold. She is the founder and CEO of the Grimm Family Education Foundation, which aims to help students in underserved communities of Kern County.
Grimm-Marshall also donated $350,000 to back Trump in the 2020 election.
Douglas Leone, founder of Sequoia Capital: $1 million
Boasting a net worth of $8 billion, the venture capitalist supported Trump in the 2020 contest but renounced his support after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, according to a statement issued shortly after: “After last week’s horrific events, President Trump lost many of his supporters, including me,” Leone said. “The actions of the President and other rally speakers were responsible for inciting the rioters.”
But this summer he changed his tune again, endorsing Trump in a post on X.com: “I have become increasingly concerned about the general direction of our country, the state of our broken immigration system, the ballooning deficit, and the foreign policy missteps, among other issues,” he wrote. “Therefore, I am supporting former President Trump in this coming election.”
Leone made the $1-million donation to America PAC, started by former California resident Elon Musk, who has been feverishly campaigning for Trump recently, even appearing with him at rallies in Butler, Pa. and at Madison Square Garden.
Ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world, Musk has given almost $75 million to America PAC — the super PAC he created this summer. In the past three months, America PAC has spent more than $100 million to support Republican candidates, according to federal election data.
Carl Barney, founder of a for-profit college chain: $924,600
Barney, who operated a group of for-profit colleges for years, is a noted proponent of Ayn Rand’s philosphy of objectivism.
On his website, Barney said he supports Trump because he approaches the job of president “as a businessman, not a politician.”
“Based on his actions in his first term as President, I judge that Donald Trump’s assets far outweigh his liabilities,” he wrote. “I especially like that President Trump wants to work with Elon Musk to reduce spending, regulations, waste, and fraud in the federal government. As Mr. Musk predicts, it will lead to an era of great prosperity. I agree.”
Marc Andreessen, founder of Andreessen Horowitz: $844,600
Marc Andreessen, left, stands next to his longtime business partner, Ben Horowitz.
(Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)
The tech venture capitalist hasn’t been shy about supporting Trump and Republican candidates in general. His venture firm has given $44 million to Fairshake, the leading crypto campaign fund supporting Republican candidates.
Formerly a vocal Democrat, Andreessen has shifted to the right in recent years because of a belief that Trump could help remove regulations that could stifle innovation in artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. He has criticized investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into crypto startups and the hurdles crypto businesses face in getting financing from banks.
“This is a brutal assault to a nascent industry that has never happened before,” Andreessen said on “The Ben & Marc Show” podcast, acknowledging that his firm is one of the largest cryptocurrency investors in the world.
Geoffrey Palmer, owner of G.H. Palmer Associates, $819,600
Real estate developer Geoffrey Palmer
(Los Angeles Times)
A billionaire real estate developer and prominent donor to Republican causes, Palmer hosted a Trump fundraiser in 2019 at his Beverly Hills mansion, where tickets cost as much as $100,000 per couple, according to an invitation. Palmer also hosted a fundraiser in 2017 for former Vice President Mike Pence at the same mansion.
According to Forbes, Palmer is worth $2 billion. His G.H. Palmer Associates is one of the largest owners of apartments in California, according to commercial real estate firm CoStar. Palmer’s massive L.A. apartment complexes include the Orsini and the Lorenzo.
Deborah Magowan, Retired: $711,600
The wife of the late San Francisco Giants owner Peter Magowan, she donated more than $200,000 to Trump in the 2020 campaign, a Times analysis found. She also gave $100,000 to Republican candidates in the 2022 midterm elections.
Times staff writer Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee contributed to this report.
California
Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter
It’s beginning to look a lot like spring!
The warm and wet weather this winter has led to the start of a dazzling super bloom at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.
“We had an unseasonably warm winter as well, so there’s actually a lot of growth,” said Callista Turney with California State Parks. “We’re having early wildflowers that are already at the park. So if you look at the poppy live cam, it shows a lot of orange already.”
The rain has helped the early blooms, but it’s actually the heat that accelerated the growth of the flowers.
“It will actually speed up the growth of the plants, so some of them were already blooming and that’s going to cause those blossoms to accelerate faster towards seed production. And the blossoms that are in the process of being formed, those are going to open up soon as well.”
We also sometimes see great super blooms in Death Valley National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.
“It’s definitely a rare occurrence because we don’t always have the right conditions. It’s gotta be the weather, the wind, the rain, all coming together,” said Katie Tilford, Director of Development and Communications with the Theodore Payne Foundation.
If it continues to stay unseasonably warm, we’ll see a shorter bloom. The key to a longer season is milder weather.
Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
California
Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’
We are counting down to the California governor’s race. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket.
In a one-on-one interview with Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, “I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors.”
Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.
“President Trump, in one year, from 2025 when he took over, until now, did absolutely nothing to harm California. What’s harming California is 30 years of Democrat one-party rule that have created an environment here that no one can live in anymore. They’ve only been successful here in California because we vote D no matter what. You vote D or die. I mean, that’s it. Charles Manson would be elected in California if he was the only Democrat on the ballot,” Bianco said.
Bianco isn’t the only conservative Republican running for governor, and according to polling, he’s neck-and-neck with former Fox News host Steve Hilton.
SEE ALSO: CA governor candidate Steve Hilton says ‘everybody supports’ Trump’s immigration policies
Leading in some polls in the wide-open California Governor’s race as the June primary creeps closer is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.
“Steve has no chance of winning in November. The Democrats know that I’m going to win in November, and so they have to do everything they can to keep me out of that,” Bianco said.
When asked about the affordability crisis in the state, Bianco said, “Almost the entire issue of affordability in California is because of regulation, excessive regulation imposed by government. Every single regulation can be signed away with the governor’s signature.”
“It is a drug and alcohol addiction problem that, and a mental health problem,” he said about the homelessness crisis. “Every single bit of money that is going to these nonprofits that say ‘homeless,’ zero money. You’re getting absolutely nothing. I can’t tell you that we would end what we see in the homeless situation within a year, but I guarantee you we would never see it again after two years.”
When challenged on that prediction, pointing to how the state doesn’t have the facilities to treat the number of people living on our streets, Bianco responded, “We have been conditioned to believe that buildings take five years to build. It takes 90 days or less to build a house, but in California, it takes three to five years because the government won’t allow it. The regulations that are destroying this state are going to be removed with me as the governor.”
Bianco also said California jails shouldn’t have to play the role of treatment facilities.
Although he says he supports the Trump administration and wants the president’s endorsement, Bianco has been traveling the state — meeting not just with Republicans, but Democrats and independents as well. He says all of our state government officials have failed.
The primary election is June 2.
No clear front-runner in race for California governor, new poll shows
A new poll shows there’s still no clear front-runner in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
California
PlayOn Sports fined $1.1 million by California watchdog over student data violations
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (FOX26) — California’s privacy watchdog has ordered PlayOn Sports to pay a $1.10 million fine and change how it handles consumer data after finding the company’s practices violated state law in ways that affected students and schools in the state.
The California Privacy Protection Agency Board issued the decision following a settlement reached by CalPrivacy’s Enforcement Division.
The decision is the first by the board to address privacy violations involving students and California schools.
Schools across the country use PlayOn Sports’ GoFan platform to sell digital tickets to high school sporting events, theater performances, and homecoming and prom dances, with attendees presenting tickets at the door on their mobile phones.
Schools also use PlayOn Sports’ platforms for other sports-related activities, including attending games, streaming them online, and looking up statistics about teams and players.
In California, about 1,400 schools contract with PlayOn Sports for these services.
[RELATED] X faces possible fines as EU probes Grok nonconsensual, sexualized deepfakes
GoFan is also the official ticketing platform for the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports.
According to the board’s decision, PlayOn Sports used tracking technologies to collect personal information and deliver targeted advertisements to ticketholders and others using its services.
The company allegedly required Californians to click “agree” to tracking technologies before they could use their tickets or view PlayOn Sports websites, without providing a sufficient opt-out option.
“Students trying to go to prom or a high school football game shouldn’t have to leave their privacy rights at the door,” said Michael Macko, CalPrivacy’s head of enforcement. “You couldn’t attend these events without showing your ticket, and you couldn’t show your ticket without being tracked for advertising. California’s privacy law does not work that way. Businesses must ensure they offer lawful ways for Californians to opt-out, particularly with captive audiences.”
The decision also describes students as a uniquely vulnerable population and warns that targeted advertising systems can subject students to profiling that can follow them for years, expose them to manipulative or harmful content, and develop sensitive inferences about their lives.
Instead of providing its own opt-out method, PlayOn Sports directed students and other users to opt out through the Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance, which the decision said violated the company’s responsibility to provide its own way for consumers to opt out. The company also allegedly failed to recognize opt-out preference signals and did not provide Californians with sufficient notice of its privacy practices.
“We are committed to making it as easy as possible for all Californians — from high school students to older adults, and everyone in between — to make the choice of whether they want to be tracked or not,” said Tom Kemp, CalPrivacy’s executive director. “Californians can opt-out with covered businesses, and they can sign up for the newly launched DROP system to request that data brokers delete their personal information.”
Beyond the $1.10 million fine, the board’s order requires PlayOn Sports to conduct risk assessments, provide disclosures that are easy to read and understand, and implement proper opt-out methods.
The order also requires the company to comply with California’s privacy law prohibiting the selling or sharing of personal information of consumers between 13 and 16 without their affirmative opt-in consent.
-
World1 week agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Wisconsin4 days agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Massachusetts3 days agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Maryland5 days agoAM showers Sunday in Maryland
-
Florida5 days agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
Denver, CO1 week ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Oregon7 days ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling