VP pick Tim Walz is familiar with California’s rich political donors. Who’s supported him

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick, may lead a Midwestern state. But he’s already introduced himself to some of California’s big political donors with the help of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The two governors have become close through their work with the Democratic Governors Association, according to sources close to Newsom, and have done fundraisers together.

Newsom described Walz, the second-term governor of Minnesota, as “a brilliant choice” for VP and praised him for supporting free school meals and backing gun control legislation. in his home state

Walz was picked by his colleagues to lead the DGA in December and stepped down from the position Tuesday after he was selected as Harris’ running mate. Newsom has served as the organization’s policy chair since early 2023.

The Minnesota governor made fundraising swings through California in 2022 and 2023, visiting some of California’s deep-pocketed enclaves to raise money for his own campaign and the DGA.

“The old cliche is that California is an ATM for out-of-state politicians. But it’s more like a conveyor belt if a progressive Democrat is raising money in California,” said Dan Schnur, a political science professor at USC.

“Governors, senators, House members — they all know there are some very deep pockets here, so not surprisingly, most of them find a way to make the trip,” Schnur said. “It would be weird if a progressive Democrat was not raising money in California.”

Walz did not appear to have rubbed shoulders with some of the state’s most high-profile Democratic donors like Netflix founder Reed Hastings or investor and Tom Steyer.

But he raked in more than $160,000 in financial support from California donors between 2023 and 2022, when he was running for re-election, according to a review of Walz’s campaign finance reports from those years.

Californians who donated to Walz before he was elevated to vice presidential pick include Lynda Resnick, the billionaire owner of brands including Fiji Water and Wonderful Halos mandarin oranges; James Scott, the chief technology officer at Microsoft and his wife, philanthropist Shannon Hunt-Scott; and Jeffrey Lawson, who co-founded cloud company Twilio and now owns satirical news site The Onion.

Other big-dollar Walz donors include Jack and Laura Dangermond, co-founders of ERIS, a geographic information system worth over a billion dollars. They gave a combined $12,000 to Walz in 2022 and 2023. Allen Blue, the co-founder of LinkedIn, also gave $4,000 to Walz’s re-election campaign.

Schnur said many big political donors want to support candidates around the country, not just at home.

“They can only give so much money to Gavin Newsom, so it’s natural they look for other candidates to give to,” he said.

Newsom has grown his own fundraising infrastructure through his Campaign for Democracy PAC and other political action committees and regularly raises money for vulnerable Democrats in battleground states.

Under Walz’s leadership of the DGA, the organization, which works to elect and defend the party’s gubernatorial candidates around the country, has reported record-breaking fundraising numbers for the first half of 2024, bringing in more than $61 million.

This story was originally published August 7, 2024 at 3:48 PM.