Many Big Tech donors are hoping to pull the plug on the effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, donated $200,000 to the Stop the Republican Recall political action committee, followed by a $100,000 donation from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt on June 4, according to a filing with California’s secretary of state.
Reed Hastings, the founder and co-CEO of Netflix, gave $3 million to the Democrat’s campaign, making him the largest donor to any candidate in the likely gubernatorial recall.
PARAMOUNT CONTRIBUTES $40,000 TO DEFEAT GAVIN NEWSOM RECALL
Paramount Pictures donated $40,000, but the contribution was actually made by ViacomCBS, the studio’s parent company, despite the record from the California secretary of state’s office listing Paramount as the contributor, a Paramount spokesperson said.
Representatives for Paramount did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
Donations to a candidate for office would normally be subject to campaign finance laws, but Newsom’s effort to prevail in a recall is considered a ballot initiative rather than a candidacy, lifting the cap.
California is one of 19 states that allow voters to recall its governors. After initially enjoying high approval ratings, Newsom attracted criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with many polls showing high disapproval of his state’s economic recovery and vaccine rollout.
On April 26, state officials announced that recall organizers achieved the necessary number of signatures to force a recall, with more than 1,626,000 verified signatures collected, eclipsing the 1,495,709 signatures required.
Newsom blasted the effort as a “Republican recall” by “a partisan, Republican coalition of national Republicans, anti-vaxxers, Q-Anon conspiracy theorists and anti-immigrant Trump supporters.”
Several Republican candidates are running, with former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer announcing his candidacy in February and reality television star and former Olympic athlete Caitlyn Jenner filing paperwork in April. Richard Grenell, the former United States ambassador to Germany and the acting director of National Intelligence under former President Donald Trump, is reportedly mulling a run.
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The state’s second gubernatorial recall effort is set to take place over the fall, likely in November.
Representatives for Apple and Google did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
