SAN FRANCISCO — During tonight’s gubernatorial debate, Tom Steyer responded to attacks from career politicians on stage who have spent years courting corporate special interest money. 

“As he said tonight, Tom is the only candidate in this race who cannot be bought. While he may be the only billionaire on the ballot, he is certainly not the only billionaire whose money is influencing this election. Unlike his opponents who rely on corporate special interests, Tom hasn’t taken a cent from them and he never will,” said Steyer for Governor spokesperson Danni Wang. “As governor, Tom will end the era of corporate interests coming before working families in Sacramento and finally hold accountable the bad actors who are driving up costs for Californians.”

THE FACTS

Becerra Took Maximum Contributions From Chevron, Private Health Insurers, And A Border Health PAC That Lists Him As Its Only Democratic Top-Five Recipient. Becerra has accepted a $39,200 maximum contribution from Chevron, over $300,000 from private healthcare companies and executives, including the CEO of Kaiser Permanente, the CEO of Adventist Health, and executives from Prime Healthcare, and $39,200 from the Border Health Federal PAC, making him the only Democrat among the PAC's top five recipients. One of his Border Health-linked donors, a conservative Texas physician, has separately bankrolled Ted Cruz and John Cornyn. His labor PAC total exceeds $150,000 from Laborers affiliates alone, and his legal donor pool tops $500,000.[Cal-access.org, accessed 4/28/26]

Throughout his career as a politician, Becerra has consistently accepted donations from the fossil fuel industry. During his Attorney General campaign, Chevron gave Becerra $15,100, and Phillips 66 gave $14,600 during the same period. During his time in Congress, he took $27,500 from PG&E and $59,500 from Sempra Energy. Now Chevron is back with another maximum check. [Cal-access.org, accessed 4/28/26] 

Matt Mahan Has Built His Campaign On The Backs Of Trump Donors And Elon Musk Allies. His donors represent Silicon Valley's most controversial corners: crypto, defense contracting, cybersecurity, venture capital, and gaming. Mahan has accepted $78,400 from David Marcus, a crypto founder who donated $500,000 to the Trump 47 Committee, $78,400 from Joe Lonsdale, a Palantir co-founder and Peter Thiel ally who poured $1,000,000 into Elon Musk's America PAC to support Trump's 2024 campaign, and $156,800 combined from John and Alexandra Hering, close friends and advisors to Elon Musk who gave another $500,000 to America PAC. [Cal-access.org, accessed 4/28/26]

Matt Mahan's Two Independent Expenditure Committees, California Back To Basics Supporting Matt Mahan For Governor 2026 And Deliver For California And Matt Mahan For Governor 2026, Have Raised A Combined $30 Million. The committees are funded overwhelmingly by Silicon Valley venture capitalists, tech executives, crypto investors, and real estate interests. Major donors include Michael Moritz of Sequoia Heritage ($3 million), Reed Hastings ($2 million), Rick Caruso ($1.5 million), the Govern for California Action Committee ($1.5 million), Patrick Collison of Stripe ($1.49 million), Michael Seibel of Y Combinator ($1 million), John Doerr ($1 million), Sergey Brin of Google ($1 million), Paul Buchheit of Google ($1 million), and Brian Armstrong of Coinbase ($500,000). Brian Singerman of Founders Fund has contributed $750,000 across both committees. The Pritzker family, John and Nicholas, has contributed over $1.25 million combined. [Cal-access.org, accessed 4/28/26; Cal-access.org, accessed 4/28/26]

Katie Porter Has Accepted Maximum Contributions From Billionaires, Wall Street Investors, And Tech Executives. Her campaign has drawn money from across the medical technology, AI, real estate, finance, and ride-share industries, sectors with enormous stakes in state policy on everything from regulation to labor law. That includes billionaire heirs, Wall Street investors, and real estate interests tied to Lehman Brothers, the firm at the center of the 2008 financial crisis. Porter’s independent expenditure has raised nearly half a million dollars, including $150,000 from Uber. [Cal-access.org, accessed 4/28/26; Cal-access.org, accessed 4/28/26]

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