Karla Jurvetson

Last updated
Karla Jurvetson
Karla Jurvetson Headshot.jpg
Jurvetson in 2018
Born
Karla Tinklenberg

1966 (age 5859)
Education Stanford University (BS)
University of California School of Medicine (MD)
Occupations
  • Physician
  • philanthropist
  • political organizer

Karla Jurvetson is an American physician, [1] philanthropist, and major Democratic donor. [2] She has particularly focused on supporting candidates who are women, people of color, and from underrepresented communities, [3] [4] and she is a prominent activist in the movement to protect voting rights and American democracy. [5] [6] Jurvetson is vice chair of EMILY's List, which supports Democratic pro-choice women and has more than five million members. [7]

Contents

Career

Jurvetson works as a private practice physician in Los Altos, California. [8]

Personal life

Karla Jurvetson was born in New Haven, Connecticut and grew up in Palo Alto, California. [9] Her mother was a nurse, her father Jared Tinklenberg was a physician and medical school professor, and her grandfather was a Christian chaplain in the U.S. Navy. [10] She earned a bachelor's degree in human biology with honors and distinction from Stanford University, a medical doctorate from the University of California School of Medicine, and completed her residency at Stanford Hospital.

In 1990, she married Steve Jurvetson, who became a Silicon Valley early-stage investor in companies including SpaceX in 2000 and Tesla in 2006. [11] [12] [13] They were married for more than 25 years and have two children. They separated in 2015 and were divorced in 2018. [14] In 2017, to honor her father's 50-year career as a medical school professor, Jurvetson helped fund the construction of the new Stanford Medical Center and endowed a professorship in her parents' names. [15] [16]

Political activism

Jurvetson in 2018 Karla jurvetson headshot.jpg
Jurvetson in 2018

Jurvetson has volunteered as a political organizer and a fundraiser for many Democratic candidates for more than 35 years. [17]

As a Stanford undergraduate in 1988, Jurvetson went door-to-door for Anna Eshoo during her first campaign for Congress, handing out VCR tapes of Eshoo discussing her candidacy. [14] In 2008 Jurvetson volunteered in the swing state of Nevada for then-candidate Barack Obama, as well as making 46 contributions to Democrats totaling $128,700. [18]

In 2016, she canvassed in Nevada for Hillary Clinton and for Catherine Cortez Masto, who became the first Latina U.S. Senator. [18] After the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, her donations to Democratic candidates markedly increased to $6.9 million in advance of the 2018 midterms, making her one of the nation's top political donors. [18]

For the 2018 elections, Jurvetson helped with voter registration drives [18] and co-hosted fundraisers for Democratic Party candidates. [19] She also put her psychiatric practice "on pause" to pursue political and policy goals, including expanded voting rights and preserving democracy. [20]

Jurvetson serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of EMILY's List, which supports Democratic pro-choice women candidates and has more than five million members. [21]

Controversy arose with her large donation of $5.4m to Women Vote!, the political action committee run by EMILY's List. Her donation was in the form of Baidu shares, a Chinese internet company traded on the US stock exchange and was unusual outside of Silicon Valley since it was in the form of stock shares. The controversy arose because only American citizens can donate to U.S. elections. [22] An EMILY's List spokesperson said, "We cleared the donation through our lawyers". In November 2018, Jurvetson was listed as one of five "surprising million dollar donors" to the US midterm elections. [22] EMILY's List would fund the successful campaign of Congresswoman Sharice Davids (KS-03) in 2018, the second Native American woman ever elected to Congress. [23] The Democrats would go on to retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018.

In November 2019, Jurvetson hosted a Democratic National Committee (DNC) reception at her home with President Barack Obama. [24] [25] NBA player Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha Curry, were co-hosts for the event, which raised over $3.5 million for the DNC Unity Fund that was formed to support the eventual Democratic presidential nominee. [26]

In January 2020 she was a large contributor to Persist PAC, which supported Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign. [27] In June 2020, when Joe Biden secured the Democratic nomination, she contributed $1,000,000 to his PAC, Unite the Country. [28] Outside of the presidential race, Jurvetson donated to more than 500 races across the country in 2020, ranging from congressional contests to state-level races. She also gave $3.9 million to Forward Majority Action, a PAC focused on winning state-level contests. [29]

In 2021 and early 2022, Jurvetson was a leader among major Democratic donors in urging President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Congressional leaders to pursue passage of comprehensive voting rights legislation, in response to laws passed in many states by Republican legislatures to severely limit or restrict ballot access and voting rights. [30]

For the 2022 election cycle, Jurvetson had "a particular focus on electing Democratic governors in 2024 battleground states who could be a bulwark against election shenanigans if Trump runs again", [31] including support for Katie Hobbs in Arizona, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania. [32]

In 2023, Jurvetson continued her focus on elections in swing and battleground states like Arizona and Wisconsin. Jurvetson was among the first national donors to Judge Janet Protasiewicz in her successful campaign to win a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, [33] a race called "the most important election of 2023. [34] " Jurvetson was also an early backer of Arizona Congressperson Ruben Gallego's 2024 campaign to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate, and co-hosted a major fundraiser for his campaign in February 2023. [35] Jurvetson was among the largest donors to the campaign to defeat Issue One in Ohio, placed on the August 2023 ballot by Republican legislators to make it harder for voters to amend the state constitution. The major funders in support of Ohio Issue 1 were conservative Illinois businessman Richard Uihlein and the Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus Archdiocese of the Catholic Church. [36] The ballot measure, rejected by Ohio voters 56.5% to 43.5%, was widely seen as an effort to thwart the possibility of voter-approved abortion rights in the state, and took on national significance in the state-by-state battles over abortion access. [37]

References

  1. Jones, Natalie (2 November 2018). "Midterm big spenders: the top 20 political donors this election". The Guardian.
  2. "Dr. Karla Jurvetson". Sharecare. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  3. "Meet Karla Jurvetson, the Bay Area megadonor who helped make 2018 the 'year of the woman'". The Mercury News. 2018-11-25. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  4. "The Los Altos Shrink Taking Over Washington". Puck. 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  5. "The Los Altos Shrink Taking Over Washington". Puck. 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  6. "The Washington Whisperers". Puck. 2022-07-27. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  7. "Leadership". EMILYs List. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  8. Jurvetson, Karla. "Dr. Karla Jurvetson, MD". AmWell. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  9. "Jared Tinklenberg, noted Alzheimer's disease researcher, dies at 80". 3 February 2021.
  10. "Almanac Online - Lasting Memories - Jerry Tinklenberg's memorial". www.almanacnews.com. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  11. Bronson, Po (1999-06-20). "Surfing On the Slippery Skin Of a Bubble". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  12. "Tesla Motors Secures $40 Million Investment Round Led by VantagePoint Venture Partners and Elon Musk". www.businesswire.com. 2006-05-31. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  13. "Venture Capitalist Steve Jurvetson Eyes Space Boom | Investor's Business Daily". Investor's Business Daily. 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  14. 1 2 "Meet Karla Jurvetson, the Bay Area megadonor who helped make 2018 the 'year of the woman'". The Mercury News. November 25, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  15. Bach, Becky (6 December 2017). "Seven Stanford Medicine faculty members appointed to endowed professorships". Stanford Medicine. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  16. "Stanford University Medical Center Renewal Project". Stanford Medicine. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  17. "The Thiel Index". Puck. 2022-02-01. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
  18. 1 2 3 4 "Meet Karla Jurvetson, the Bay Area megadonor who helped make 2018 the 'year of the woman'". The Mercury News. 2018-11-25. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  19. "Take The House: Atherton, August 26". WomenCount. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  20. Schleifer, Theodore (2021-09-21). "The Los Altos Shrink Taking Over Washington". Puck. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  21. "Board of Directors". www.emilyslist.org. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  22. 1 2 Kramer, Melanie (2018-11-06). "5 Surprising Million-Dollar Donors to the US Midterms". Money Makers. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  23. "Super PAC drops nearly $400,000 in 3rd District congressional primary | Sunflower State Journal". sunflowerstatejournal.com. 14 July 2018. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
  24. "Barack Obama urges anxious Democrats to 'chill out' over 2020 candidates at California fundraiser". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  25. Tracy, Abigail (22 November 2019). "Obama Deals With the Democrats' Daddy Issues". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  26. Writer/meganw@latc.com, Megan V. Winslow-Staff (10 November 2019). "Barack Obama to fundraise in Los Altos Hills next week". Los Altos Town Crier. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  27. Schleifer, Theodore (20 March 2020). "A little-known Silicon Valley psychiatrist has become one of the Democratic Party's most powerful donors". Vox. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  28. Greenberg, Will (2021-01-25). "Ever Heard of Karla Jurvetson? She Was One of the Biggest Democratic Donors in 2020". Blue Tent. Retrieved 2022-02-28.[ permanent dead link ]
  29. Greenberg, Will (2021-01-25). "Ever Heard of Karla Jurvetson? She Was One of the Biggest Democratic Donors in 2020". Blue Tent. Retrieved 2022-02-28.[ permanent dead link ]
  30. "The Los Altos Shrink Taking Over Washington". Puck. 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
  31. "The Washington Whisperers". Puck. 2022-07-27. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  32. Seidman, Andrew; Brennan, Chris (2 February 2022). "Josh Shapiro is raising huge amounts of cash for the Pennsylvania governor's race". www.inquirer.com. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
  33. Project, The Badger (2023-02-18). "The top donors (so far) to Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz, left-wing candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court". The Badger Project. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  34. Nichols, John (2023-04-05). "Wisconsin Chooses a Progressive Justice in the Most Important Election of 2023". ISSN   0027-8378 . Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  35. "Manchin's Senioritis & Gallego's Silicon Valley Swipe". Puck. 2023-02-23. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
  36. Evans, Nick (2023-07-31). "Ohio amendment to curb 'out-of-state special interests' gets nearly all its funding from them". Ohio Capital Journal. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  37. Wines, Michael (2023-08-09). "Ohio Voters Reject Constitutional Change Intended to Thwart Abortion Amendment". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-09-08.