Tech Giants Fuel Record $128M Outside Spending in CA Legislative Races

Silicon Valley corporations and technology billionaires have supplied at least 20% of all outside campaign spending in California's 2026 state legislative elections, helping drive total independent expenditures in Assembly and State Senate contests past $128 million as of Oct. 29, according to a CalMatters analysis published Monday by San Jose Inside.

Legislative Outside Spending Climbs From $74.2M in 2022 to Over $128M in 2026

Total independent expenditure spending across California legislative races has nearly doubled over two election cycles—rising from $74.2 million in 2022 to roughly $100 million in 2024 and surpassing $128 million by Oct. 29, 2026:

• GROW California, California Leads & JOBSPAC: A network of business-aligned committees led by California Leads (which has spent roughly $152 million across recent cycles) and GROW California—funded by Uber, Google, and oil and real estate interests—spent more than $23 million in the 2026 cycle, seeing 11 of its 12 backed legislative candidates advance from the June primary. Meanwhile, the California Chamber of Commerce's JOBSPAC received $3 million from Google co-founder Sergey Brin, $2.5 million from Meta, and roughly $1 million from Google, alongside major contributions from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and venture capitalist Tim Draper.
• META California & East Bay / South Bay Contests: Meta launched its own California political action committee in 2024 and has spent $1.3 million in 2026 supporting Republican Scott Sakakihara against Democratic labor attorney Anamarie Ávila Farias and fellow contenders in a competitive Bay Area legislative district.

AI Regulation Battles and $50 Million in Congressional Super PAC Spending

The surge in Sacramento campaign spending comes after lawmakers debated dozens of artificial intelligence bills over the past 2 years—including Sen. Scott Wiener's SB 53, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2025 after vetoing Wiener's earlier SB 1047 in 2024. At the federal level, pro-industry AI super PACs have spent more than $50 million across 46 congressional races nationwide in 2026, compared with roughly $2 million spent by the safety-focused Guardrails Alliance.