Garry Tan, the local venture capitalist who has for years railed against progressive politicians on social media and served as the intersection between tech and center-right politics in the city, is formalizing his influence operation.
Tan, the CEO of the vaunted startup incubator Y Combinator, announced Wednesday he had spun up a dark-money group called “Garry’s List” that he described as a “voter education group” that is “dedicated to civic engagement, voter education and support for common-sense policies and candidates” in a press release. Such groups give donors a way to anonymously support causes without giving directly to a candidate or a measure.
“I want to work to ensure Californians know the importance of investment and entrepreneurship to our state’s current and future economy,” Tan wrote.
As a 501(c)4 nonprofit, Garry’s List will be able to spend money directly on candidates and ballot measures. It could also print voter guides, host in-person events, take out ads, and run programs training the next generation of elected officials. Tan said he plans to do all of the above.
But the operation is also a media venture: Garry’s List started with a blog pillorying public-sector unions as “special interests,” attacking the ongoing teachers’ strike, and denouncing the proposed billionaire tax. Tan has for years called on tech executives to create “parallel” media and “replace the unelected parts of the system,” like unions and nonprofits. “We need our own machine,” he said in 2023.
Tan has long been a voice espousing tough-on-crime, law-and-order politics in San Francisco. He has spent nearly half a million dollars in local races since 2015, and is known locally for his brashness: He once tweeted that seven of the city’s supervisors — all progressives — should “die slow, motherfuckers” in a late-night polemic. The tweet, which Tan said was a joke, prompted hateful mail and police reports.
He is now eyeing statewide change. Tan said he would “take the same education and engagement we used to turn around San Francisco” to all of California, and told the San Francisco Standard he pined for the “energy that I felt when we were first working on the recall of Chesa Boudin and the school board” in 2022.
The Jan. 27, 2024, post on X from Garry Tan that he said was a joking reference to Tupac lyrics.
Sam Singer, the “master of disaster” publicist who is working with Tan, did not disclose amounts or the source of funds for Garry’s List but said it had received donations from more individuals than just Tan. “There’s been a large amount of support from, as Garry calls them, ‘radical centrists’ to have an organization like this that is neither Democrat nor Republican, but is a pragmatic, centrist, and common-sense place,” said Singer.
Singer said “all 58 counties” in California are “on Garry’s map” and that the group would operate “from the Mexican border to the Oregon border.”
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