As California governor Gavin Newsom, a well-known ally to tech companies, finishes his term, the state is heading into a crucial election year. Silicon Valley – powerful and newly energised by the AI boom – is looking for a new ally to protect its businesses and interests.
San Jose mayor Matt Mahan, a moderate Democrat, is quickly becoming a notable contender in the race for California governor.
Who is Matt Mahan?
Before entering politics, Mahan graduated from Harvard alongside Mark Zuckerberg and went on to work in the tech sector.
After co-founding the civic engagement platform Causes – where he later became CEO – he launched Brigade with backing from major investors such as Napster co-founder Sean Parker, Ron Conway and Marc Benioff, creating a social network for civic participation that was ultimately acqui-hired by Pinterest.
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As San Jose mayor, Mahan has built a reputation that sets him apart from many of his Democratic rivals. He has taken a hard line on crime and homelessness, supporting measures such as tougher penalties for repeat offences and initiatives to move people into shelters. Most notably, he has attracted support from prominent Silicon Valley figures for his pro-business stances.
It is not just his tech background that gives him credibility in Silicon Valley. Mahan also tends to frame his policies around innovation and data-driven solutions, speaking the language of the tech industry – and its wealthiest investors.
Billionaire tax agenda
The November 2026 election is set to take place amid growing concern among California’s UHNWs over potential tax rises, with the state’s proposed ‘billionaire tax’ heightening the urgency.
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If approved in November, the proposal would hit Californians with a net worth of more than $1 billion with a one-time 5 per cent tax, funding education, healthcare and social programmes.
Many tech billionaires see it as a major threat, with some already moving – or planning to move – to other states.
[See also: Will California’s ‘billionaire tax’ trigger an UHNW exodus? Wealth managers weigh in]
The bill has already sparked a wave of political donations and lobbying from the tech sector, including a $3 million contribution from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel to the California Business Roundtable, which is actively fighting the measure. Meanwhile, Google co-founder Larry Page, currently the world’s second-richest person, has already left California, relocating his family office and buying two Miami homes for $173.4 million.
It is therefore no surprise that Mahan, who has publicly opposed the billionaire tax, fits neatly into this environment. ‘We need a rising economic tide to lift all boats, not a political plan that will sink California’s innovation economy,’ he wrote on X in January in response to the proposed policy.
UHNW backing
Ahead of the election, California billionaires have already started pouring money into donations and campaign support initiatives to maintain a business environment where innovation isn’t hindered by new regulations.
According to public records, supporters of Mahan’s campaign so far include Roblox CEO David Baszucki, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, GitHub co-founder Chris Wanstrath, CloudKitchens co-founder Diego Berdakin, Ring founder Jamie Siminoff and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has also joined in, giving the maximum individual donation allowed by law, amounting to almost £60,000.
[See also: Billionaire wealth and inheritance hit record highs in 2025]
Just last week, Mahan received a significant boost when an independent committee supporting his run spent $1.5 million on a Super Bowl advert praising his work in San Jose. Mahan’s early fundraising has already outpaced top Democrats Eric Swalwell and Katie Porter by a significant margin, whom he will face in the primary election on 2 June 2026.
Mahan’s Silicon Valley connections and substantial fundraising haul, boosted by the Super Bowl advert portraying him as the ‘pragmatic fixer’ who turned San Jose into America’s safest big city, ‘suggest he has the momentum to be more than just a regional curiosity,’ California-based investment expert Michael Ashley Schulman told Spear’s.
What a Mahan victory would mean for UHNWs
While Schulman would not quite call him ‘the Billionaire Whisperer’ just yet, he believes ‘a Mahan victory might slow the California exodus of businesses and the super successful.’
‘His chances at the governorship hinge on California’s open primary system filtering out the extremes since he is in a crowded field of traditional Democrats and possibly the only one running as a disruptor of the status quo while still holding a major office,’ Schulman said.
[See also: How the rich and famous fell for Miami]
That said, ‘even if he doesn’t secure the nomination, the political gravitational pull of his agenda may bend the orbits of more traditional candidates,’ Schulman added.
The US is home to 924 billionaires – a substantial portion of the world’s 2,919 – according to UBS Global Wealth Management’s Billionaire Ambitions Report for 2025. Of these, 215 live in California, according to Forbes, meaning a mass exodus of these ultra-wealthy individuals could have a significant effect on the global distribution of billionaires.
