Karla Jurvetson (born 1966) is an American physician,[2] philanthropist, and major Democratic donor.[3] She has particularly focused on supporting candidates who are women, people of color, and from underrepresented communities,[4][5] and she is a prominent activist in the movement to protect voting rights and American democracy.[6][7] Jurvetson is vice chair of EMILY's List, which supports Democratic pro-choice women and has more than five million members.[8]
Karla Jurvetson was born in New Haven, Connecticut and grew up in Palo Alto, California.[10] Her mother was a nurse, her father Jared Tinklenberg was a physician and medical school professor, and her grandfather was a chaplain in the U.S. Navy.[11] 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.[12][13][14] They were married for more than 25 years and have two children. They separated in 2015 and were divorced in 2018.[1] 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]
Jurvetson has been a trustee on several other non-profit boards, including the San Francisco Ballet (2000-2003).[20] She was named by Gentry Magazine as one of the top philanthropists in the San Francisco Bay Area.[21]
She served as a school board member (2011-2018) for The Nueva School, which is located in the San Francisco Bay Area and was previously a pre-kindergarten through 8th grade school. She co-chaired the school's $50 million capital campaign, which resulted in the construction of a new campus in San Mateo and a school expansion to include grades 9–12. Nueva Upper School opened one grade at a time starting in 2013, and is currently ranked in the top 10 high schools in America.[22][21][19][23]
Jurvetson has volunteered as a political organizer and a fundraiser for many Democratic candidates for more than 35 years.[24]
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.[1] 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.[25]
In 2016, she canvassed in Nevada for Hillary Clinton and for Catherine Cortez Masto, who became the first Latina U.S. Senator.[25] 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.[25]
In an interview about the 2018 elections, Jurvetson said, "Women disproportionately were the activists, the volunteers, the people who drove change... Women have gained enough economic power and political power so we can translate our frustration into action... I feel like it's our moral duty, if we're not going to run ourselves, to support the women who are brave enough to put their names on the ballot."[25]
For the 2018 elections, Jurvetson helped with voter registration drives[25] and co-hosted fundraisers for Democratic Party candidates.[26] She also put her psychiatric practice "on pause" to pursue political and policy goals, including expanded voting rights and preserving democracy.[27]
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.[28]
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.[29] 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.[29] 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.[30] The Democrats would go on to retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018.
In January 2020 she was a large contributor to Persist PAC, which supported Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign.[36] In June 2020, when Joe Biden secured the Democratic nomination, she contributed $1,000,000 to his PAC, Unite the Country.[37] 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.[38]
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.[39] The Freedom to Vote Act: John R Lewis Act would have restored key portions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, ended partisan gerrymandering, increased transparency of how campaigns are financed, established automatic voter registration, and protected the right to early voting.[40]
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",[41] including support for Katie Hobbs in Arizona, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania,[42] and support for successful efforts to win Democratic control of the state legislatures in Michigan and Pennsylvania for the first time in years. She supported Texas State Representative Jasmine Crockett's campaign for Congress in the 30th Congressional District (Dallas-Ft. Worth). Jurvetson was an early supporter of Crockett. Crockett said she met Jurvetson at a private dinner in D.C. along with the brother of civil rights icon John Lewis, following a march for voting rights. Jurvetson was impressed with Crockett's stance on the issue of voting rights.[43]
In 2023, Jurvetson has 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,[44] a race called "the most important election of 2023.[45]" Jurvetson is 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.[46] 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.[47] 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.[48]
Following President Biden's widely-criticized debate performance June 28, Jurvetson worked behind the scenes to persuade him to step aside and was among the leading Democratic donors and women activists urging the Democratic Party to unite behind Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee instead.[3] "President Biden will go down in history as one of our most accomplished presidents, who put the country first at every step. Now he has passed the torch to our tremendous Vice President, Kamala Harris, and from now to Election Day, I will work to help elect her and protect the right to vote and women's reproductive rights," said Jurvetson.[4]
Related Research Articles
EMILYs List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money Is Like Yeast". Malcolm commented that "it makes the dough rise". The saying refers to a convention of political fundraising: receiving many donations early in a race helps attract subsequent donors. EMILYs List bundles contributions to the campaigns of Democratic women in favor of abortion rights running in targeted races.
Anna A. Eshoo is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from California's 16th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 18th district from 2013 to 2023, is based in Silicon Valley, including the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Palo Alto, as well as part of San Jose. Eshoo is the only Assyrian-American in Congress and the only Armenian American woman in Congress. On November 21, 2023, she announced she would not seek re-election in 2024.
Elwyn "El" Tinklenberg has been an American government official and candidate for public office. He was Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, a city council member and mayor, and a two-time candidate for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nomination for U.S. Congress from Minnesota's 6th District.
Kelda Helen Roys is an American tech entrepreneur, business owner, attorney, and Democratic politician from Madison, Wisconsin. She is a member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing the 26th Senate district since 2021. She previously served two terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, from 2009 to 2013. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, and for Governor of Wisconsin in 2018.
Terrycina Andrea "Terri" Sewell is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served since 2011 as the U.S. representative for Alabama's 7th congressional district, which includes most of the Black Belt, as well as most of the predominantly African American portions of Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, and Montgomery.
Vote.org, formerly Long Distance Voter, is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is based in the United States. It provides online voter guides for every state, including voter registration forms, absentee ballot applications, and information on deadlines, directions, and ID and residency requirements. The organization is best known for large-scale voter registration programs, registering 4 million voters in the 2020 election cycle alone.
Thomas Fahr Steyer is an American climate investor, businessman, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, and liberal activist. Steyer is the co-founder and co-chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions, founder and former co-senior-managing-partner of Farallon Capital and the co-founder of OneCalifornia Bank, which became Beneficial State Bank, an Oakland-based community development bank. Farallon Capital manages $20 billion in capital for institutions and high-net-worth individuals. The firm's institutional investors include college endowments and foundations. Steyer served on the board of trustees at Stanford University from 2007 to 2017. Since 1986, he has been a partner and member of the executive committee at Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco–based private equity firm.
Miriam Adelson is an Israeli-American physician and political donor. She was married to Sheldon Adelson from 1991 until his death in 2021. After his death, she became the owner of the Las Vegas Sands and as of August 2024, is estimated to be the fifth richest woman in America with a net worth of US$30 billion. Adelson is the richest Israeli in the world and the 52nd richest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, while Forbes places her as the 65th.
Richard Ellis Uihlein and Elizabeth Uihlein are American billionaire businesspeople, founders of Uline and conservative donors. Richard is also an heir to the Schlitz brewing fortune.
Peggy Flanagan is an American politician, community organizer, and Native American activist serving as the 50th lieutenant governor of Minnesota since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Flanagan served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019.
Rebecca A. Balint is an American politician who is a member of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont's at-large congressional district as a member of the Democratic Party. She served as a member of the Vermont Senate from Windham County from 2015 to 2023, as majority leader from 2017 to 2021, and as president pro tempore from 2021 to 2023.
Elissa Blair Slotkin is an American politician serving as a U.S. representative for Michigan's 7th congressional district since 2019. The district, numbered as the 8th from 2019 to 2023, stretches from Lansing to the outer northern suburbs of Detroit. A member of the Democratic Party, Slotkin was previously a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst and Department of Defense official.
Christina Marie "Chrissy" Houlahan is an American politician, engineer, and former United States Air Force officer. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the U.S. representative from Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district. The district includes almost all of Chester County, a suburban county west of Philadelphia, as well as the southern portion of Berks County including the city of Reading. She was first elected in 2018, defeating Republican Greg McCauley in the midterms.
Kimberly Merle Schrier is an American politician and a former physician who is the U.S. representative from Washington's 8th congressional district since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Jared R. Tinklenberg was an American professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Tinklenberg died on November 18, 2020, at age 80.
Nicole Ann Shanahan is an American attorney specializing in Silicon Valley. She was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate in his 2024 independent presidential campaign.
Phara Souffrant Forrest is an American politician, nurse, and tenant activist. A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, she is the assembly member for the 57th district of the New York State Assembly. After defeating incumbent Assembly Member Walter T. Mosley in the Democratic primary in June 2020, Forrest won the general election in November of that year. She defeated former District Manager of Community Board 2 Olanike Alabi in the primary to defend her seat in 2022. She was unopposed in the general election.
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is an American businesswoman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 20th congressional district. Her district covers most of the Black-majority areas in and around Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. A member of the Democratic Party, she won a special election in 2022 to fill the seat left vacant after the death of Alcee Hastings.
Ellen Weaver is a Republican politician and former conservative think-tank leader who has served as South Carolina Superintendent of Education since January 11, 2023. She defeated Democratic candidate and current school activities director Lisa Ellis in the general election in November 2022. She is the former president and CEO of the Palmetto Promise Institute, a conservative think tank in South Carolina which supports public funding of private schools. Weaver has focused her tenure as Superintendent on literacy, education freedom, and parental empowerment.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
