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Google co-founder Sergey Brin just became the latest high-profile member of the tech world to throw his financial support behind a Republican.
Brin gave Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt a maximum donation of $1,800 on May 27, according to municipal campaign finance records. Other big names in tech making contributions to the mayoral hopeful include Palantir’s chief technology officer, SpaceX’s director of solar production, a communications executive at TikTok, the co-chairman and co-founder of Riot Games, Activision Blizzard former CEO and the Winklevoss twins.
Pratt is a registered Republican running in Los Angeles’ nonpartisan mayoral race.
The Google co-founder’s donation may be unsurprising to some, as recent reports indicate that he has somewhat soured on California Democrats over their push for an additional tax on billionaires. Brin has also praised the Trump administration for its approach to artificial intelligence by thanking the president for “supporting our companies instead of fighting with them.”
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The donations add a local front to a broader political realignment in tech, where some of the industry’s most recognizable names, beginning during the 2024 electoral cycle, grew more willing to back Republicans amid fights over taxes and artificial intelligence policy. Los Angeles’ mayoral race has become a local flashpoint for that trend, with Brin and other prominent tech figures backing a conservative challenger to shake up governance in one of the nation’s most liberal cities.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who first gained notoriety for accusing Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their intellectual property to create Facebook, have since pivoted to cryptocurrency and broader tech investment and, as of 2024, have become major Republican donors.
Joining the Winklevoss twins in throwing their support behind Trump in 2024 were tech-focused venture capitalists such as David Sacks, Marc Andreessen, Chamath Palihapitiya, Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire and Shervin Pishevar, as well as Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man.
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Since Trump has taken office, tech firms have taken institutional steps to ingratiate themselves with his administration. Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta, for instance, have all made contributions to his controversial construction of a ballroom on White House grounds. Those same firms, alongside Microsoft, Uber and Nvidia, all donated to Trump’s inaugural fund ahead of him taking office.
Tech was previously one of the chief antagonists of Trump’s movement, with the president’s supporters accusing the industry of suppressing their speech and manipulating information to benefit the Democratic Party – as with the suppression of the New York Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
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While tech’s leadership seems to have become more friendly toward Republicans, the rank-and-file still overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party. While campaign finance records show that employees at tech firms gave a greater share of donations to the GOP in 2024 compared to past cycles, the vast majority of their donations still went to Democrats.
In recent years, tech leaders have enjoyed private dinners with Trump both in the White House and at Mar-a-Lago, with some, such as Sacks and Musk, securing formal roles within his administration.
While records do not indicate that Musk has financially supported Pratt’s campaign for mayor, the billionaire has been a vocal supporter of him on social media.
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Pratt is running in a nonpartisan primary against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, and Nithya Raman, a Democratic Socialists of America-affiliated city councilwoman. Election Day is set for Tuesday.
Google and the Pratt campaign did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.
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