Porter tries to claim the progressive mantle, all the while accepting maximum donations from tech billionaires and special interests as corporate interests and outside groups continue to pour money into her candidacy
THE FACTS
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. Uber’s contribution is the single largest disclosed donor to Porter’s independent expenditure committee. [Cal-access.org, accessed 4/28/26; Cal-access.org, accessed 4/28/26]
Notable donors who have contributed the maximum amount to the Porter campaign include:
- Chris Larsen: billionaire executive chairman of Ripple (crypto)
- Lyna Lam: philanthropist and spouse of Chris Larsen
- Joe Kiani: billionaire medical technology CEO (Willow Laboratories, Masimo)
- Theresa Preston-Werner: spouse of GitHub founder Tom Preston-Werner
- Roger McNamee: venture capitalist and co-founder of Elevation Partners
- Lisa Pritzker: member of the billionaire Pritzker family
- Lawrence Hess and Suzanne Hess: real estate executives tied to Lehman Brothers-linked holdings
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