For most of the past two decades, Google co-founder Sergey Brin kept his billions away from the ballot box. He floated a bit of pocket change to a couple of causes, usually left-oriented: $1 million to a California clean energy group in 2006, $100,000 to oppose California’s gay marriage ban in 2008 and $36,000 to support President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. But after helping subsidize rideshare rides to polling centers in 2017, the donations stopped. It seemed that Brin had closed his pocketbook to politics. So why, after decades of political aloofness, has the world’s third-wealthiest person dropped more than $85 million on California elections this year — instantly becoming one of the state’s biggest political donors of the past quarter-century? Almost all of the money Brin donated this year went to Building a Better California, a political action committee formed in February. The New York Times reported in April that Brin has helped fundraise for the group, which has also received seven- or eight-figure donations from Silicon Valley venture capitalists John Doerr and Michael Moritz. On its website, Building a Better California describes itself as a nonpartisan group advocating for more housing, better education and good-paying jobs. But by far the bulk of its spending — roughly $100 million — has gone to support potential measures that would counteract a “billionaire tax” that a healthcare union is aiming to put on the November ballot. One counter-measure, for example, would ban new taxes on retirement savings — and investment accounts.

👀 Hakeem Jeffries was in Silicon Valley Tuesday for a fundraiser with Sam Liccardo and other House Dems that raked in $2.5 mill for the DCCC, via @dustingardiner The fundraiser drew reps from Meta, Anthropic, and Microsoft. More in Inside Congress: politico.com/newsletters/ins…

Talarico courted Silicon Valley donors in multi-day Bay Area trip dlvr.it/TT4kKq

More than 200 of the world's elites registered for a retreat whose agenda runs from panels on cult-building and sex to prepping for World War III. An associated app offers matchmaking. wired.com/story/leak-exposes…

How did Ken Griffin become the most successful Wall Street entrepreneur of his generation? Gary Sernovitz speaks with the hedge-fund titan, who is worth about $50 billion, and 28 of his current and former employees. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/Go…

Schumer going public with what he's been telling donors in recent weeks nytimes.com/2026/06/05/us/po…

Gavin Newsom fundraising off the DOJ probe into his Campaign for Democracy PAC

NEW - talking points from Gov. Newsom's office sent to the Hill and obtained by Semafor say feds have been: "contacting family friends, donors, former employees, and associates, subpoenaing records, and asking questions about the Governor's and First Partner’s finances..."

Governor Gavin Newsom is mounting a last-ditch pressure campaign to stop a proposed California billionaire tax from ever reaching voters bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

On a call with a major Dem donor, Gavin Newsom had a clear message: there would be no billionaire tax. He assured the donor that the levy would be negotiated away before a June 25 deadline. Newsom has ten days to make good on that promise. (gift link) bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

This weekend we published the inside story of the Silicon Valley fight against the wealth tax, complete with secret schemes and Signal chats

.@jmart on how the clipping economy has elevated Jon Ossoff politico.com/news/magazine/2…

Spotted front row in the Claw at the White House UFC fight: Mark Zuckerberg and David Ellison.

EXCLUSIVE: @saikatc to endorse Connie Chan for congress in race against @Scott_Wiener, he told The Standard. Saikat is also forming a "Solidarity PAC" to independently back Chan, with the help of much of his 200 campaign staffers. sfstandard.com/2026/06/13/ch…

Big story out today with the names of a dozen tech tycoons in a secret Signal chat plotting California’s political future much more!! sfstandard.com/2026/06/13/bi…

As you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, since SpaceX went public today, Elon Musk — who was already the richest person in the universe by several hundred billion dollars — became the world’s first trillionaire. But he’s not the only person whose bank account has been radically transformed by the IPO, which valued the company at something in the ballpark of $1.75 trillion. There are also SpaceX execs, rank-and-file workers, early investors, current and former Trump administration officials, universities, Hollywood moguls, and more. Here, Bess Levin presents a guide to everyone who got a lot richer today than they were yesterday: nymag.visitlink.me/ArDOrY

NEW — The SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI IPOs are expected to create about 20 new billionaires. nytimes.com/2026/06/12/busin…

Graham Platner brands himself as anti-billionaire but FEC filings show donations from billionaires including George Soros, Pat Stryker, Jon Stryker, Jennifer Pritzker. Platner has raised $16.3M with nearly 60% from small donors. Read the full story & funding breakdown: opensecrets.org/news/2026/06…

Collectively, a group of nearly 100 billionaires and spouses have donated $9.8 million to the #Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ network since the start of 2025, representing a third of what groups supporting #Maine's Collins raised from all donors. themainemonitor.org/billiona…

NEW - It’s the JD Vance summer of fundraising, with stops in WI and Vegas, per flyers obtained by @CBSNews