Techno-fascist Garry Tan is supporting candidate Douglas Lezameta in Concord's District 3

Concord's third district is an open race, with current council representative Dominic Aliano not seeking re-election. Candidate Douglas Lezameta's campaign has gained financial support from conservative leaning Democrats, the Concord Police Officer's Union, Contra Costa County Deputy Sheriff's Association, and real estate investors. Douglas Lezameta has gained the attention of Garry Tan, who has begun donating money to Lezameta in the final days before the election.

In a 2023 interview for the Network State Conference, Garry Tan spoke of building a parallel political machine, built in the “growth mindset” of the Silicon Valley oligarchical worldview. Tan outlined how technology could be used to build parallel media and political networks, outside of the Democratic process. He cited as an example Elon Musk's take over of Twitter. He called it "a key piece" to building the type of parallel media and political structures, that can be developed without people voting. For the goal of "building the alternative tech political machine", a machine that "if it works in SF, it will work everywhere".

Compared to larger expenditures in San Francisco politics, Garry Tan’s $250 contribution to Lezameta is paltry. It none-the-less shows an interest in Concord politics, despite Tan having no connections to Concord whatsoever. It is also possible that further donations will be documented in later contribution disclosures posted to Net File. Speaking to SFGATE, author Gil Durán warned that Tan’s 2023 interview for the Network State Conference was a confession which should be taken seriously. That if Garry Tan can use his wealth as political power in SF, he will do the same elsewhere.

In 2024, Garry Tan called for the death of his political enemies. On January 27 of 2024, Tan tweeted the message: "Fuck Chan Peskin Preston Walton Melgar Ronen Safai Chan as a label and motherfucking crew. Die slow motherfuckers." The alternative tech political machine in action. The listed individuals received subsequent death threats online. Aaron Peskin and Dean Preston received further death threats in the mail. Also in 2024, Lee Edwards, a friend and supporter of Tan, used Twitter to praise Pinochet for having tossed Communists out of helicopters. Historical imagery that has become a meme that the far-right uses in reference to current Leftist politics in the US.

This worldview of building alternative, parallel power structures comes from the concept of the Network State. A corporate, oligarchical system of government alternative to Democracy, and antithetical to Democracy. Such a concept is supported by Balaji Srinivasan, whom Tan was interviewed by in the 2023 Conference video. Another proponent of the network state model is Peter Thiel. Tan has ties to Thiel directly, as Tan worked at Palantir before starting Y Combinator.

In a 2024 blog post, Gil Durán wrote: “San Francisco tech plutocrats like Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan deny that they are right-wingers in disguise... But it's now become impossible to deny the unholy alliance between certain tech people in SF and the extreme far right in American politics.” Those politics are now starting to seep into Concord. In conversation with the SF Standard, Durán explained that Garry Tan was a primary inspiration for Durán’s book “The Nerd Reich”. The author said, “it was Garry Tan describing his sudden aggressive engagement in San Francisco politics as something related to the Network State that led me to look more deeply into it.”

The donation received from Douglas Lezameta came from Garry’s List. Also on the board of Garry’s List is Shaudi Fulp, who is also on the board of Grow California. Fulp is actively lobbying against proposed California’s wealth tax, that is on the ballot as Proposition 40. Chris Larsen, the founder of Grow California, has been quoted as saying that the government is “going to clash with a lot of the things that are going to make California successful if there's no counter-force." The running thread for the technocrats is that they aim to use their wealth in support politicians or causes that can be manipulated to weaken the government from within, for the goal of replacing government systems and functions with parallel anti-Democratic institutions. Douglas Lezameta is being lured to be a pawn for these goals.

Residents of Concord District 3 should not vote for Lezameta. Concord voters should reject the tech oligarchs and the politicians they are trying to purchase. Lezameta has also taken a political contribution of $1,000 from Anamarie Farias. In August of this year, Farias met in person with Garry Tan. After the meeting, on her Facebook account, Anamarie posted the message: "A great evening of meaningful conversations and connecting around a shared vision for California".