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Sunday, September 13, 2026

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News + PoliticsElectionsLook who's funding the local Democratic Party

Look who’s funding the local Democratic Party

The right-wing tech barons and plutocrats are now the party's biggest donor base.

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The San Francisco Democratic Party held its annual gala tonight at the Palace Hotel. These posh events raise funds for the party, which is fine—but this year, the major sponsors, who gave more than $25,000, read like a list of the most conservative, almost Republican, big tech donors in the city:

Chris Larsen and Ron Conway, two plutocrats who are trying to buy control of San Francisco politics. Jeremy Stoppelman, the founder of Yelp and a major Yimby. Garry Tan, who not long ago called for the death of progressives on the Board of Supes.

This is who the San Francisco Democratic Party is celebrating?

It’s a very different party now that the right wing of the party has taken over. And that money will go to promoting right-wing candidates in November.

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Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.
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