Candidates Matt Mahan and Steve Hilton attend a debate in the race for governor of California, hosted by the San Francisco Examiner and CBS, in San Francisco, California, U.S., May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Billionaire tech CEOs and investors hoping to “buy” seats in Congress with nominees sympathetic to their demands are finding it easier to find candidates than it is to get them elected, no matter how many millions of dollars they invest in their campaigns.
According to a report from Politico’s Christine Mui, Dustin Gardiner, Madison Fernandez and Kimberly Leonard, Tuesday’s primaries were not kind to potential lawmakers who made no bones about their enthusiasm for tech initiatives that included the increasingly unpopular data centers.
And they paid the price.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan (D) became the most prominent casualty of the night, conceding California's gubernatorial race less than half an hour after polls closed. The former startup executive had leveraged his Silicon Valley connections to raise tens of millions of dollars, only to finish in the low single digits.
The Bay Area bloodbath extended to congressional races. Entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal conceded early Wednesday after being soundly defeated by Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna, a progressive who championed a proposed tax on California billionaires. Wealthy venture capitalist Eric Jones fared little better, pulling in third place in his challenge to Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson in Napa County, Politico reported.
"This is a preview of what's coming in 2026, and it's a preview of what's coming in 2028," Rob Flaherty, a Democratic strategist who served as deputy campaign manager for Kamala Harris's presidential campaign, told Politico. "Association with tech money is increasingly going to become a problem."
Voters sent a clear message: they wanted candidates who reflected their values and not Silicon Valley's interests. "People are looking for these avenues to push back on tech," explained Irene Kao, director of Courage California. "Voters at the end of the day really want to see candidates who reflect who they are. They want candidates who feel less out of touch."
The losses revealed what insiders characterize as startling political incompetence among tech megadonors. "The tech guys that think they know politics, those are the ones that got spanked," said one prominent Silicon Valley Democratic fundraiser granted anonymity to speak candidly. "These guys are wannabes, the ones that don't appreciate that political science is actually a science."
The anti-tech wave has also transcended state lines. In Iowa, Republican businessman Zach Lahn pulled off a stunning upset against a Trump-endorsed candidate by calling for a data center moratorium and pledging to tax companies five times more to build them. Similar anti-tech messaging is gaining traction in races across the country, with candidates finding political gold in running against Silicon Valley.