A new tech-friendly governor?

The California governor’s race has been a crowded field without notable frontrunners.
#Newsom had been a long-time friend of the tech industry, hosting Google’s #Page and #Brin as guests at his wedding
and referring to Salesforce chief executive Marc #Benioff as “family”.
His departure appears to have Silicon Valley fretting.

#Singleton, from the Chamber of Progress, said Newsom had long recognized “how pivotal the technology industry is in California”.

But then, late last month, Matt #Mahan, a moderate Democrat and the mayor of San Jose, announced his candidacy.

Before Mahan got involved in politics in 2020, he had a career in the tech sector.
He was an undergraduate at Harvard with Zuckerberg,
and in 2014 co-founded a startup with funding from #Conway, #Benioff and Napster co-founder Sean #Parker.

Mahan appears to be the savior the tech industry had been searching for.
Since his candidacy announcement just two weeks ago,
⚠️millions have poured into his campaign.

According to public records, he’s received donations from several venture capitalists,
along with Roblox CEO David #Baszucki, Y Combinator CEO Garry #Tan, GitHub co-founder Chris #Wanstrath, Cloudkitchen co-founder Diego #Berdakin, and Ring founder #Siminoff.

Mahan has even courted donors who helped launch companies known for working with the Trump administration,
including Palantir co-founder Joe #Lonsdale and Anduril co-founder Matt #Grimm and his wife Kimberly Grimm, according to public records.

Google’s #Brin has also backed Mahan, maxing out the limit for an individual campaign donation at $78,400.

Several of Mahan’s other tech backers also maxed out their donations.
🔥At this point, Mahan has now raised more than double the two most prominent democrats in the race, ⭐️Eric Swalwell
and ⭐️Katie Porter.

As political races and ballot measure campaigns continue to heat up across California in 2026, tech’s influence is only expected to grow.

“It’s going to be a fun session,” Singleton said. That’s for sure.”

#MattMahan #KatiePorter #EricSwallwell #CAGovernor
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/15/california-billionaires-state-elections

The “California Billionaire Tax Act”,
often referred to simply as the #billionaire #tax,
is a proposalthat would require any California resident worth more than $1bn to pay a
one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state.

It’s sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West,
and if it receives enough signatures from California voters, it will go to the ballot in November.

When the proposal was put forward at the end of last year,
many among tech’s billionaire elite threw a #tantrum.

Some opened offices or bought mansions in Florida or Texas,
vowing to leave California for good.
The fleeing rich included Palantir co-founder Peter #Thiel,
whose current net worth is $25bn;
Google co-founders Larry #Page and Sergey #Brin,
worth around $255bn and $240bn respectively;
and Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David #Sacks,
whose net worth is not publicly known.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta CEO
Mark #Zuckerberg,
worth $229bn, has also bought a property in south Florida valued between $150 and $200m.

Thiel has additionally led the charge in donating to a lobbying group, the "California Business Roundtable",
which has pledged to fight the wealth tax.

The Palantir co-founder handed over $3m to the political action committee in late December.
Other major donors include realtors, entrepreneurs and private equity firms.
James #Siminoff, who founded the camera-embedded Ring doorbell company, also donated $100,000, according to public records.

“The most powerful money in politics is to be on the no-side of a ballot measure,” said #McCuan.
“You can even pre-empt something getting to the ballot, like a billionaire’s tax,
by explaining to everyone out there that this is a bad idea for economic growth.”

Tech investors and venture capitalists have been extremely vocal in their opposition to the tax,
saying that the state will lose revenue as billionaires flee and it will hurt the state’s ability to be economically competitive.

Just this week, Chamath #Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive and current venture capital investor, wrote
“the loss of this tax revenue was totally avoidable but is now forever”.
#Balaji #Srinivasan, an investor and former chief technology officer of Coinbase, wrote,
“the most successful tech founders of all time have now exited the failed state of California”.

Adding on, Paul #Graham, the co-founder of seed capital firm Y Combinator, wrote:
“It’s important that people like Zuck and Larry Page are willing to move in response to the proposed wealth tax.
It shows politicians what will happen if they try things like this.”

Joining the billionaires, #Newsom has pledged to fight the tax, saying it will “drive a race to the bottom” and stifle innovation as the ultra-wealthy leave.
“This will be defeated – there’s no question in my mind,” Newsom told the New York Times in January.
“I’ll do what I have to do to protect the state.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/15/california-billionaires-state-elections