Cryptocurrency billionaire Chris Larsen has contributed $500,000 to support Theo Ellington for District 10 supervisor, according to a new campaign-finance filing submitted Thursday.
While the sum is not unusual relative to Larsen’s other contributions, it is highly unusual for a San Francisco supervisorial race, and likely larger than any other contribution coming from an individual to support a city supervisor candidate, ever.
Larsen, his wife, Lyna Lam, and his company, Ripple Labs, have collectively poured more money into the San Francisco races than any other donor spending in the November election.
Larsen and his wife have given $2.5 million to support Mayor Daniel Lurie’s charter amendments, and Ripple has given $500,000 toward Lurie’s committee supporting the Muni parcel tax measure.
Ellington is the executive director of the Ruth Williams Bayview Opera House, and a policy director at Brownstein, a public affairs firm. He is a registered city lobbyist.
He is in the running against J.R. Eppler, a small-business attorney; and Dion-Jay Brookter, former chief executive at Young Community Developers, to represent District 10, which includes Bayview Hunters-Point, Visitacion Valley, Portola and Dogpatch. The winner of the race will succeed the termed-out Shamann Walton.
Ellington is the chosen candidate for the city’s moderate groups, including GrowSF, a political advocacy group. To date, the group has spent $61,000 supporting Ellington in its voter guide, but will likely spend more.
In Mission Local’s weekly “Meet the Candidates” series, Elllington’s opponents said they were against the police department using Flock surveillance cameras — a passion project of Larsen’s, who has spent years advocating for and funding police technology in the city.
Unlike his opponents, Ellington said he would support Flock, provided there are guardrails. Ellington also indicated he was more open to the city’s RV ban than his rivals, who oppose it.
The donation from Larsen was first reported by the San Francisco Standard. It was sent to a political action committee backing Ellington, which operates independently from Ellington’s campaign.
Aside from third-party spending, Ellington’s campaign already has a fundraising lead. Ellington has raised $472,000 from small-dollar donors, who give no more than $500, and from the city’s public-financing system. Meanwhile, Eppler’s campaign has a total of $151,000, and Brookter’s has $129,000.
Messages for Larsen were not immediately returned. Ellington did not immediately provide comment on the contribution. This article will be updated if and when he does.
“When a billionaire puts that kind of money behind a candidate, voters should ask whose interest will come first. Billionaires don’t give gifts. Instead, they make investments and expect returns,” said Eppler, one of Ellington’s competitors. “District 10 deserves a supervisor who fully represents the hardworking people who live here.”
I hope Prop 40 passes and these billionaires will follow through on their promise to leave California.
Ugh I really hate this billionaire asshole. San Francisco doesn’t belong to you, you self righteous arrogant prick!!
Citizens United is the (one of the) worst Supreme Court decision for letting these rich jerks buy elections.
Isn’t it bad enough that our fair city is now a big brother is watching you fascist right wing oligarchy? First he buys the cops the tools of big brother fascist tech right wing, and prop E, and Now he wants to buy the last of the Black community’s political power?? Not for sale, asshole.
Half a million dollars from one billionaire to elect a district supervisor strips away a lot of campaign rhetoric.
Theo can say he didn’t ask for it. Fine. The real question is why Chris Larsen thinks Theo is worth a $500,000 investment.
At this point, Theo’s true colors are getting hard to miss.
Corrupting our elections district by district. He’s already firmly entrenched in City Hall.
Worth noting that Chris Larsen’s company, Ripple, also donated to Trump’s White House ballroom, as CNN reported: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/politics/ballroom-donors-white-house-trump
Anyone who accepts Larsen’s money after that is telegraphing they plan to be openly corrupt. J.R. Eppler is right: just like the ballroom, it’s an investment, not a gift. Eppler and Brookter are both solid candidates who’d be great on the board. Please do the right thing, District 10!
Larson worked for Chevron, he is not a good guy and needs to be taxed into millionaire status.
Good to know. As a D10 voter I will NOT be voting for the billionaire’s choice, that’s for sure.
He can’t dance and he also dresses badly.
What I don’t get is that Ellington was already winning this race. Why take so much money from an industry that raises so many red flags? Now he’s got nearly $1 million more than his competitors, and it’s all from tech bros. It’s like an asterisk.
To fill his own pocket?
Isn’t this the same billionaire (who thinks he can buy SF) who also paid for the Flock cameras that watch our every move?
NO MORE BILLIONAIRES running SF please. VOTE AGAINST ALL BILLIONAIRES and those they support
Vote NO to billionaires & the billionaire’s choice. NO votes for Theo anymore! He’s already shown where his loyalties lie and it’s not with the people. It is especially NOT with D10.
Theo Ellington is sadly selling his soul to billionaire money. A vote for him is a vote for data centers in our neighborhoods and more Flock cameras throughout our community. Turn off the TV, look past the ads, do your own homework, and vote smart. Everything comes with a price, and D10 could be left holding the bag for years. Billionaires aren’t looking out for our community, they’re protecting their own interests, not ours. In San Francisco, money talks, but our communities deserve a say too. D10 deserves better. Don’t sell our neighborhoods to the highest bidder. Look out for your block, look out for your neighbors, and vote with the community in mind.
Well, we definitely have another Gilded Age 2.0 study in contrasts here. Behold a fellow who Forbes, not too long ago, listed as the fifth richest person on earth taking a half-million-dollar interest in who represents a San Francisco district that includes a neighborhood in which at least forty percent of the population is either poor or near poor.
Chris Larsen has a long history of giving money to Democrats, but I’m guessing that he could give an Alice Griffith apartment rodent’s derriere about your typical Bayview dweller. As far as I can tell, Larsen’s agenda, and arguably his life’s work, is about creating currencies and money exchange systems that are blindingly fast and opaque. He, like the rest of his cohort, knows that the tools needed to get to that place are crypto, AI, and political power. Oh sure, he’s given a chunk of cash to the mayor’s Muni parcel tax campaign, but my bet is that his donation is more about keeping Lurie in office than making sure the 49 Van Ness runs on time — as if either of these guys take public transit.
Like everyone else following all the cash flowing into San Francisco school board races, supervisor elections, and initiatives, I keep wondering what these avuncular oligarchs are looking for. My best guess is that they want the city to continue to function as a sort of Petri dish for whatever new job-killing, public-space-destroying, privatizing gizmo network they’ve got cooking upstairs. For that they need an affluent, docile population ready and willing to try the next autonomous, AI/drone-powered, meme-coin-operated, rent-out-your-kidneys-or-neurally-controlled-tuxedo-cat innovation.
Of course, some semblance of normalcy is required for this project: adding a bit of affordable housing, ensuring public transportation for people who can’t afford to take Waymos all the time, and at least giving the appearance of trying to manage the homeless population — all done without taxing the rich.
And that, as far as I can tell, is what being a “moderate” means in San Francisco. Insert your AI-generated laugh track here.
Good! This is money that will be spent locally, on media, printing, etc. Thank you for helping the economy.
California billionaires have a really lousy track record of influencing the vote — remember Meg Whitman? — so don’t get your panties in a bunch.