SF Mayor Lurie, Nepotism & Privatization of Kezar Stadium with Calvin Welch

The bulk of Lurie’s financial backing is held by Believe in SF, Lurie for Mayor 2024, a committee supporting his election. Unlike candidates’ personal committees, support committees aren’t subject to contribution limits, though they’re not allowed to coordinate with the campaign.
Most of the money donated in Lurie’s support remained unspent as of Dec. 31, leaving him and his supporters with plenty of cash to raise his profile in the months leading up to the election.
The other candidates will need a big boost to catch up with Lurie, whose war chest has been largely funded by a handful of wealthy donors. Just 12 people who gave at least $100,000 account for two-thirds of the money raised for his mayoral push, underscoring the Levi Strauss heir’s powerful network. Who are those donors? We looked into public records to understand who’s bankrolling Lurie’s bid for mayor.

Miriam Haas: $1 million
Billionaire businessperson Miriam “Mimi” Haas is the widow of Peter Haas, the great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss. She’s Lurie’s mother, and the biggest financial supporter of his election bid, donating $1 million in December. That’s the largest donation to a committee backing a San Francisco candidate since at least 1998, according to election records.
As of February, Haas owned about 14% of shares in the company, according to SEC filings, the second-most of any shareholder. She’s also a vice chair at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and co-leads the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund, a charity that primarily donates to childhood development organizations.
In the past, Haas has given much smaller sums — usually no more than $10,000 — to politically moderate causes in San Francisco, including supporting the recall of Chesa Boudin and the election campaign of Brooke Jenkins for district attorney.
Jan Koum: $251,000
The Ukrainian-born co-founder of WhatsApp, Jan Koum is one of the richest people in the world, with an estimated net worth of more than $16 billion, according to Forbes. He gave the committees supporting Lurie about $251,000.
Koum, a reclusive figure who hasn’t donated in a San Francisco election since at least 1998, is also the director of the Koum Family Foundation, a Palo Alto-based charity that donates millions of dollars annually to Jewish organizations.
Oleg Nodelman: $250,000
Oleg Nodelman, founder and portfolio manager for biotech investment firm EcoR1 Capital, donated $250,000 in support of Lurie about a month after he declared his candidacy. Nodelman sits on the board of directors for Prothena, an Ireland-based company that develops experimental drug treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. He and his wife Heather Nodelman are listed as donors to Tipping Point Community, Lurie’s anti-poverty organization, giving between $100,000 and $250,000 during the 2022 fiscal year.
In 2021, Nodelman gave $5,000 to support the recall of Boudin, according to campaign donation records.
Christopher and Bradley James: $250,000
Christopher James sits on the board of directors for Tipping Point, and is the founder of activist investment firm Engine No. 1. The company gained significant media attention a few years ago after it successfully pushed to put environmentally friendly directors on Exxon Mobile’s board.
Christopher James and his wife Bradley James, a SFMOMA trustee, each gave Lurie $125,000. They cofounded the James Family Foundation, a charity that gives to art, educational and medical institutions, and gave Tipping Point between $250,000 and $500,000 during the 2022 fiscal year.
Christopher James also donated about $5,000 to San Francisco’s school board recall effort in 2022.
Alan Waxman: $200,000
A former Goldman Sachs partner, Alan Waxman is the co-founder and CEO of investment firm Sixth Street. He gave Lurie’s support committee a total of $200,000, and previously served on the board of directors for Tipping Point. Waxman is also the co-chair of the board of Bay FC, the Bay Area’s first National Women’s Soccer League team.
Waxman and wife Charlotte Zanders Waxman sold their Atherton home for $22 million in January, nearly twice the amount they bought it for.
Jonathan Gans: $104,000
Another investor, Jonathan Gans is the president and CEO of Ironwood Capital Management, a San Francisco-based hedge fund that oversaw about $4.7 billion in assets in 2023, according to the company’s financial records. His donations supporting Lurie totalled nearly $104,000 as of the end of 2023. He and his wife Abigail Turin, a San Francisco architectural designer, also gave Turning Point between $50,000 and $100,000.
Gans, like many of the other donors on this list, sits on the SFMOMA board of trustees. He also gave $50,000 to Lurie’s campaign supporting Proposition E, a Breed-backed measure that will expand police powers, and $500 to Jenkins’ reelection campaign.
Adam Clammer: $101,000
Adam Clammer is the treasurer of Believe in SF, Lurie for Mayor 2024, the committee supporting Lurie’s reelection, and contributed $100,000 of his own money to the group’s funds. Clammer, like several of Lurie’s other top donors, also gave the maximum allowable donation of $500 to the candidate’s personal campaign committee.
Clammer, who is yet another SFMOMA trustee supporting Lurie, is the co-founder of San Francisco investment firm True Wind Capital. He previously donated to Safaí’s supervisor campaign and backed Boudin’s recall.
Clammer and his wife Kate Harbin Clammer, co-founder of investment firm Source Capital and longtime Tipping Point board member, have given Tipping Point at least $100,000.
Ari Lurie: $101,000
Lurie’s mother isn’t the only family member backing his run for mayor. Ari Lurie, an artist and Daniel Lurie’s brother, gave his committees a total of about $101,000. Ari Lurie donated an even larger sum — $250,000 — to his brother’s campaign to pass Prop E.
Along with Mimi Haas, Ari Lurie leads the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund. He generally doesn’t involve himself in San Francisco politics, with his only other donation on record from the past two decades being a $100 contribution to Gavin Newsom’s mayoral campaign in 2007.
Jamie Greene: $101,000
James “Jamie” Greene Jr. cofounded investment firm True Wind Capital with Adam Clammer, the treasurer of a committee backing Lurie. Greene donated $100,000 to that committee about the same time Clammer did, and gave another $500 to Lurie’s personal campaign fund. He has also donated at least $50,000 to Tipping Point.
Andy Pilara: $101,000
Andy Pilara, a former investment banker who co-owns the internationally renowned photo collection at Pier 24 Photography with his wife Mary Pilara, gave the committee supporting Lurie $100,000.
The couple, who recently announced they plan to sell their artworks, also run the Pilara Foundation, a grant-making nonprofit which focuses on health care, arts and education.
Samir Kaul: $100,000
A member of Tipping Point’s leadership council, Samir Kaul donated $100,000 to Lurie’s support committee. He’s a founding partner at Khosla Ventures, a firm whose investment portfolio includes DoorDash, OpenAI and Impossible Foods.
The Atherton resident donated to Democratic candidates for federal offices in 2020, including about $78,000 to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. He also gave $250 to Ed Lee’s 2011 mayoral bid. He and his wife Puja Kaul donated $4 million to form a professorship at Harvard Medical School, and have given at least $50,000 to Tipping Point.