Billionaires and tech moguls are spending mountains of cash to catapult San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan to the front of the race for California governor.
Recent campaign finance reports show Mahan has raised more than $2 million, though he has touted raising a total of $7 million so far on social media. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and YCombinator CEO Garry Tan are among the Silicon Valley elite who maxed out their legally-allowed contributions — $78,400 each — into Mahan’s governor campaign in January.
David Baszucki, the billionaire CEO of the gaming platform Roblox, and his wife Jan gave a combined $156,800 to Mahan’s campaign, records show. The support for a moderate, billionaire-friendly governor extends to Southern California, where businessman and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso contributed $78,400 to Mahan’s campaign.
The financial support comes as Mahan has voiced opposition to a proposed billionaire tax in California over the early days of his statewide bid — and billionaires are responding.
Adrian Rafizadeh, Mahan’s campaign manager, said the mayor has united Californians against special interests.
“Californians want hope that the problems that have been seen as intractable are solvable,” Rafizadeh told San José Spotlight. “Trust in city government has increased by nearly 40% since (Mahan) took office because he delivered, and because he was willing to stand up to special interests to get things done.”
Mindy Romero, a political sociologist and founder of the Center for Inclusive Democracy, said the fundraising is substantial for a late-entry gubernatorial candidate — and a sign he’s a candidate that can no longer be ignored.
“If he keeps this pace up, then he could potentially surpass — if he hasn’t already — other candidates in a very short amount of time,” Romero told San José Spotlight. “Does that make him frontrunner? We’d have to see what the polls say. He does have a ways to go in terms of all Californians knowing who he is and his name. But having the funding he’s already gotten is a really strong sign he’s going to have a viable and very competitive candidacy.”
Mahan’s campaign filings also weave a tangled web of tech mogul support linked to Peter Thiel, the billionaire conservative benefactor and co-founder of data analytics software company Palantir. Thiel-linked donors include Lonsdale, who later launched the Cicero Institute, a conservative policy think tank.
Another donor linked to Thiel is Matthew Grimm, who with his wife Kimberly gave a combined $20,000 to Mahan’s campaign, records show. Grimm was an early Palantir hire and a principal at Mithril Capital, Thiel’s growth fund. Grimm then co-founded Anduril Industries, a defense tech company that saw major backing from Thiel’s Founders Fund. Grimm’s Anduril co-founder Trae Stephens and his wife, who haven’t donated to Mahan’s campaign, founded ACTS 17, a Christian nonprofit that ministers to elites and funded Thiel’s 2025 lectures on the antichrist.
XYZ Venture Capital founder Ross Fubini — who donated $10,000 to Mahan’s campaign — was also an early investor in Anduril and more than 20 startups by Palantir employees.
A handful of other wealthy Californians — some with ties to Thiel — came together to secure Mahan a Super Bowl advertisement last weekend highlighting his run for governor.
Romero said that big names in Mahan’s filings — and the amount he’s pulled together so far — could bring him the attention he wouldn’t normally have had.
“That in and of itself makes the media take a candidate more seriously. That’s when you hear questions such as, ‘Are they the new frontrunner?’” Romero said. “There’s a lot of positive press and attention and credibility a candidate gets from raising a lot of money quickly, especially for a late entry. But it also can mean there’s a lot of pressure to perform, and you’ve got a smaller runway to perform.”
American billionaire Tom Steyer — who has touted a progressive affordability platform — is still leading the pack with $38 million in fundraising as of Feb. 3. He’s followed by conservative pundit Steve Hilton and former Democratic congresswoman Katie Porter, who are both hovering just under $6 million in fundraising.
Other candidates in the governor’s race include Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has raised $3.8 million. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has raised $3.1 million. Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra has raised $2.9 million. Former State Controller Betty Yee has raised $587,000 and California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has raised $256,000.
Whichever two candidates get the most votes in the June 2 primary will advance to the Nov. 3 election.
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.
This story originally appeared in San José Spotlight.