For most of this 2026\u00a0midterm election cycle, the attention around California\u2019s billionaire class has focused heavily on their opposition to a\u00a0one-time tax<\/a>\u00a0on their wealth, money that would be used to help offset massive federal cuts to safety-net health care programs in the state.<\/p>\n That\u2019s fine as far as it goes, but it goes nowhere near far enough. In truth, the billionaires are on an all-time spending spree when it comes to politics at both the state and federal levels \u2014 and their interests range far afield from simply defeating a single proposition, no matter how irksome the Billionaire Tax Act is to them.<\/p>\n California\u2019s mega-wealthy are also using their resources to pave the way for them to expand their futures in the cryptocurrency and AI industries with as little regulation or pushback as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just putting money into the [billionaire tax] ballot measure. There is a very precise legislative agenda here as well,\u201d said Crystal Zermeno of California Common Good, a coalition of labor and community groups that has been researching this energized round of spending.<\/p>\n That agenda, Zermeno said, extends to state-level elections, where billionaire money is being used to support either Republican or, in Democrat-safe districts, pro-business Democratic candidates \u2014 and in some cases, to directly oppose labor-backed candidates in those elections.<\/p>\n The amounts involved are staggering. According to a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0released today by California Common Good and the pro-working class organization People Over Billionaires, the state\u2019s top 15 billionaires alone have poured more than $336 million into federal and California elections so far this year.<\/p>\n Just four billionaires \u2014 Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Silicon Valley venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and cryptocurrency magnate Chris Larsen \u2014 have given $331 million to political campaigns, either through individual or affiliated corporate contributions in 2026, the report says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an explosion of growth in their spending,\u201d Zermeno said. \u201cThey\u2019re driving up the cost of these legislative races immensely. And they\u2019re playing the system toward a corporate agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n The groups\u2019 report draws\u00a0from broadly available sources, including the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, the California Secretary of State\u2019s office and city ethics commissions that require political contribution disclosures. The bottom line: After years of dipping their toes in the water, billionaires are now fully engaged politically on their own behalf, both in California and federally.<\/p>\n To be sure, the billionaire tax proposal in California, versions of which have consistently failed at the federal level, has their full attention.<\/p>\n Brin, whose political spending was\u00a0almost nonexistent<\/a>\u00a0previously, has personally contributed $86 million in this election cycle, and $85 million of that went to one group. That group, Building a Better California, has launched\u00a0two<\/a>\u00a0initiatives<\/a>\u00a0that, if approved by voters, would effectively gut the wealth tax. (The group has not taken a position on the tax proposal itself.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the devastating, oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union. I don\u2019t want California to end up in the same place,\u201d Brin, who rarely comments publicly,\u00a0said in a statement<\/a>\u00a0to the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0in April, as the Times prepared a report describing Brin\u2019s recent rightward lurch politically.<\/p>\n Related | Surging stock market, Trump policies boost wealth for top 1%<\/a><\/p>\n Brin himself may not be touched by the California Billionaire Tax Act if it passes. He bought property in Nevada and established residency there near the end of 2025, and only those billionaires with primary residence in California as of Jan. 1, 2026, would be affected by the tax.<\/p>\n Still, Brin, who holds other properties, including a\u00a0$50 million Malibu estate<\/a>, continues to use his money to fight the tax. Several other billionaires, including Larsen, former Sequoia Capital chair Michael Moritz, Google director John Doerr III and Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, have given to Building a Better California.<\/p>\n That fight, and the\u00a0threatened flight<\/a>\u00a0of the state\u2019s mega-wealthy if the tax passes, have garnered national attention. But the billionaires\u2019 political spending is also heavily focused on their futures in AI and crypto.<\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n Headquartered in Silicon Valley\u2019s\u00a0Menlo Park, Andreessen Horowitz is considered the most\u00a0heavily invested<\/a>\u00a0venture capital firm in the country when it comes to AI and\u00a0crypto<\/a>. It\u2019s pouring money into federal Political Action Committees that align with those financial interests.<\/p>\n Both Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have contributed individually \u2014 $41 million and $45 million, respectively \u2014 but so has their firm. Andreessen Horowitz has spent $57 million as a corporation on political giving in 2026, all of it at the federal level, according to the newly released report.<\/p>\n A primary recipient: Fairshake, the powerful super-PAC that uses its clout to\u00a0influence federal legislation<\/a>\u00a0and elections \u2014 including this year\u2019s midterms \u2014 when it comes to beating back cryptocurrency rules and regulations. Another recipient is the political action committee\u00a0Leading the Future<\/a>, a pro-AI industry organization; Andreessen has\u00a0argued for years<\/a>\u00a0that AI should be allowed to be developed without any government regulations or assistance whatsoever.<\/p>\n And the billionaires\u2019 money is landing on local races in California, often specifically to get a pro-business candidate elected or prevent a pro-labor candidate from doing so.<\/p>\n Related | As new minimum wages take effect, California\u2019s cities keep raising the bar<\/a><\/p>\n One political action committee, Grow California, was seeded with money from crypto giants Larsen and Tim Draper. Larsen, a longtime Democratic donor, has spoken openly of using the PAC to\u00a0push back against labor unions<\/a>\u00a0that he believes hold too much power in California. The proposed billionaire tax, which Larsen also opposes, has been pushed by the state\u2019s largest health care union.<\/p>\n Grow California spent money on multiple primary elections in the state this year, often specifically opposing labor-backed candidates, the report found. In Assembly District 67, the PAC used independent expenditures to support one Democratic candidate, Mark Pulido, and oppose another, Ada Brice\u00f1o, co-president of the labor union UNITE HERE Local 11. Pulido, not Brice\u00f1o, moved on to November\u2019s general election. (Disclosure: UNITE HERE is a financial supporter of Capital & Main.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe found that in races where they get involved big, the billionaires are outspending \u2026 the labor and community group [candidates] by four times, six times,\u201d Zermeno said.<\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n Absent election finance reform,\u00a0this is a pattern that will recur. California\u2019s billionaire class, much of it the product of the state\u2019s thriving tech sector, is working fully within current campaign finance guidelines by giving individually and through PACs, which they are also free to create and fund.<\/p>\n![\"Cartoon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/07-15-2021-mcfadden-915px.jpeg\")
Brian McFadden<\/p>\n