Labor Day marked the beginning, for political campaigns at least, of an eight-week sprint to the Nov. 3 general election during which millions of mailers will be sent to voters’ homes, door-knockers will fan out across San Francisco, and candidates will hit the campaign trail.
All of that costs money. Fundraising and spending will likely ramp up in the coming weeks, but already, eye-watering contributions have been made in this election: At least $18 million has been raised for the November races and the top 16 donors have contributed some $13 million.
That number includes 11 donors who have contributed at least $500,000 each — and three who have contributed $1 million or more.
Mission Local mapped out the biggest donors. Topping the list: Cryptocurrency company founder Chris Larsen (together with his wife Lyna Lam and company Ripple); Michael Moritz, a journalist-turned-venture-capitalist and financier behind the San Francisco Standard; and John Pritzker, an investor and heir to the Hyatt hotel chain.
The bulk of the major giving is going toward Mayor Lurie’s package of charter-reform measures. Those measures — propositions D, E and F — seek to consolidate mayoral authority by shifting power from city commissions to the mayor, make it more difficult for measures to qualify for the ballot, and give the city administrator more say over the city’s contracts.
This isn’t the first time the big money has sought to change the charter. In November 2024, Proposition D, which also aimed to consolidate mayoral power, raised some $9.5 million, most of it from Moritz. That was more than any other measure on the ballot that year.
Overall, several of the big donors in this election have previously given to measures, candidates and PACs that support expanding mayoral power, increasing police funding and technology use, and offer incentives to help housing developers and boost construction. That includes GrowSF, a political advocacy group that has grown significantly in recent years and received several large contributions from wealthy donors this cycle.
Significant sums are also going toward Lurie’s PAC, “Daniel Lurie Ballot Measure Committee — Safe, Affordable Muni for a Thriving San Francisco,” to support the Muni parcel tax that would tax property owners to raise money to support the city’s transit network.
Explore the table with the top 16 donors who have contributed $250,000 or more.
Who’s giving to Lurie’s charter amendments?
The biggest contributions have gone to support the package of charter-reform measures. As Mission Local previously reported, nearly half of that money went toward signature gathering to get those measures on the ballot in the first place.
Explore the major donors giving to Mayor Lurie’s charter reform measures, propositions D, E and F.
Who’s giving to the Muni tax?
The PAC supporting Lurie’s Muni parcel tax measure is also flush with cash. To date, it has raised some $3.8 million, and only spent about $1.1 million.
Explore the major donors giving to Mayor Lurie’s Muni parcel-tax measure, Proposition H.
Methodology
Data used from this article was obtained from the San Francisco Ethics commission via S.F. Open Data and from the California Secretary of State, via CalAccess.
Any transactions to committees registered for the San Francisco November election are included, as well as transactions to independent committees that are spending on the November races.
The data is up to date as of Sept. 10, 2026.
This article is not an exhaustive list of all major donors; it includes the top donors who have contributed to the November races, by amount given. In some cases, donors were grouped with their spouse, and/or companies they have founded.
This article was inspired by an article recently published in the New York Times on megadonors contributing to the midterm elections.
