Chris Larsen, the San Francisco-based billionaire co-founder of Ripple and an increasingly significant force in Democratic Party donor circles, told Politico in an interview that he plans to back California Governor Gavin Newsom in what is widely expected to be his 2028 presidential campaign, describing the governor as someone who “gets the balance right between tech and the broader community.”
Larsen’s comments reflect an early consolidation of Silicon Valley’s remaining Democratic donor base around Newsom, with a dozen prominent donors, bundlers, and strategists in the technology sector telling Politico that despite the rightward drift of many tech billionaires toward Trump and Republican politics, those still aligned with the Democratic Party are beginning to coalesce around the California governor as their preferred vehicle.
“I’m a big believer in Gavin,” Larsen told Politico, adding that on the increasingly complex intersection of AI and community governance, Newsom is the political figure best positioned to navigate that balance in ways that serve both Silicon Valley’s interests and broader public expectations.
Garry Tan, CEO of the startup incubator Y Combinator and another prominent Democratic donor, separately told Politico that Newsom offers an alternative to the progressive left of the Democratic Party that he believes threatens to kill the “golden goose of tech” that underpins California’s economy and tax revenue.
Newsom has extensive and long-established relationships in Silicon Valley, having spent years as Mayor of San Francisco and two terms as governor cultivating connections with founders, investors, and executives across the startup and venture capital ecosystem, putting him on a first-name texting basis with numerous industry leaders who are now potential major financial supporters.
The governor has a documented track record of resisting policies he believed would undermine California’s technology competitiveness, including bills that would have banned self-driving trucks and a proposed billionaire asset tax that he warned would drive critical revenue out of the state, both of which earned him credibility with wealthy tech donors who viewed him as commercially literate in ways that some of his Democratic contemporaries were not.
Newsom faces competition for Silicon Valley’s Democratic donor base from multiple potential 2028 contenders, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Representative Ro Khanna who represents much of Silicon Valley itself, and a field of governors from other states including Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
Larsen’s commitment, while an early-stage signal rather than a formal financial commitment, carries significance because his network and the infrastructure he has built through his Grow California political organisation suggests he has the capacity and motivation to mobilise meaningful financial resources in support of Newsom’s national ambitions.
