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]
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]
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.[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.[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 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 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.[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 with others to persuade him to step aside and was among the leading donors and women activists urging the Democratic Party to unite behind Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee instead.[49] "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.[50] Since Harris became the Democratic nominee, she has been the largest donor in the 2024 cycle to the EMILY's List PAC, Women Vote![51]
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