Los Angeles’ capitalist-hating socialist candidates are having vast sums of cash funneled into their campaigns – from the very billionaires they openly despise.
Records show lefty City Attorney candidate Marissa Roy has had a staggering $1.4 million from billionaire-backed super PACs pumped into her campaign to turn the DA’s office into a the biggest “public interest law firm” in Los Angeles — focusing on civil rights, corporate accountability and treating criminals with mental health and addiction diversion programs rather than prison.
Cop-hating councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who also wants to increase taxes on corporations, has picked up $310,000 from the same groups, while Westside candidate Faizah Malik — who helped draft and defend LA’s ”mansion tax” on homes that sell for more than $5 million — has collected $200,000.
Even wannabe mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who claims she takes no money from corporate interests, has had $20,000 spend on her campaign by billionaire-sponsored groups.
The cash flowing to political committees and super PACs – especially the Smart Justice California Action Fund, which is campaigning for lenient criminal justice policies – allows donors to pour in vast sums into local races with no contribution caps.
This strategy circumvents the strict limits on how much individuals can give directly to candidates.
Critics say the cash exposes the hypocrisy of the LA’s socialists – pitching themselves as champions of working-class Angelenos while benefiting from money tied to some of the richest people in America.
At the center of the funding network are four wealthy backers tied to tech and finance fortunes and progressive causes.
Patty Quillin, the wife of Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, whose net worth is about $5 billion, Elizabeth Simons, daughter of late hedge fund titan Jim Simons, whose fortune peaked at roughly $30 billion; Kaitlyn Krieger, a Democratic donor married into a tech fortune worth hundreds of millions; and Quinn Delaney, an heiress to the $8 billion-plus Clif Bar empire.
Many of those donors don’t even live in Los Angeles — and are so wealthy they can afford private security, insulating themselves from the anti-police and soft-on-crime policies critics say they help to bankroll.
Quillin alone has already contributed $1.8 million to Smart Justice California Action Fund in 2026, with Simons donating $991,700, and Krieger contributing $134,450, according to campaign filings and Transparency USA data.
Smart Justice California Action Fund has already spent $1.4 million backing Roy.
They also spend another $300,000 on Hernandez while Working Families, another organization tied to the billionaire network, added an additional $10,000 this election cycle.
But the billionaires are also donating directly to the individual candidates.
Quillin donated $2,000 to Hernandez, $1,000 to Hugo Soto-Martínez, $900 to Raman and $900 to former DSA-backed candidate, Ysabel Jurado.
Kaitlyn Krieger separately contributed $4,500 directly to local candidates, including $900 each to Raman, Soto-Martínez and Hernandez.
Los Angeles’ public financing system means the city’s public financing system magnifies those contributions.
Eligible donations are matched at six-to-one by taxpayers, turning a $1,000 contribution into $6,000.
Soto-Martínez was the only candidate to comment, claiming he was “proud” to be “the only campaign in this race running a “100% clean money campaign.”
“We do not accept contributions from corporate PACs, real estate developers, or fossil fuel interests, and any contribution that conflicts with those standards is returned immediately.”
Lou Calanche, who is challenging Eunisses Hernandez in Council District 1, blasted Hernandez over her campaign support.
“Eunisses Hernandez can’t claim to be a champion of working people while Bay Area billionaires bankroll her campaign — the hypocrisy speaks for itself,” Calanche said.
Longtime Los Angeles political consultant Rick Taylor said the billionaires are driving policy in the city.
“These are people who are not affected day to day by decisions made by these council members. They don’t live here. They’re not impacted by homeless encampments. They’re not impacted by our firefighters being diverted to emergencies or trying to save lives every day.”
Nico Ruderman, a Venice resident who helped lead the recall campaign against former DSA-backed Councilmember Mike Bonin, said policies bought by these billionaires have had “devastating real-world consequences.”
Ruderman said many of those donors live “behind golden gates near the Golden Gate Bridge,” protected by private armed security, while backing efforts to defund police agencies working families rely on.
“The difference is they don’t have to live with the consequences of the policies they promote,” Ruderman said.
“What made so many people furious was being told by these politicians that protecting schools, parks, beaches, and neighborhoods somehow ‘doesn’t solve homelessness,’” Ruderman said. “That became the excuse for refusing to set basic boundaries anywhere.”
Ruderman added: “Those things are not mutually exclusive.”
Huge donations to leftwing Los Angeles politician have caused chaos in the city previously.
In 2020, the Smart Justice California Action Fund poured about $3.7 million into supporting District Attorney George Gascón, who promised sweeping reforms.
Instead, critics point out his divisive, liberal policies only fuelled a sharp increase in crime across Los Angeles.
Shoplifting, for example, surged by as much as 130% during parts of his tenure, alongside spikes in auto thefts, property crimes and violent offenses that intensified concerns over public safety.
By 2024, voters removed Gascón from office, in a race many viewed as a political course correction.