California Governor Gavin Newsom’s relatives will hold a fundraiser for Donald Trump, according to a report from SFGate.
Tickets for the Woodside fundraiser are selling for as much as $500,000 per couple.
The hosts of the event, Tom and Stacey Siebel, are related to Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Tom is a second cousin once removed from the governor’s wife.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Tom Siebel is a “billionaire software developer and businessman who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump’s 2024 campaign.” According to the outlet
Despite being related to prominent Democrats, the Siebels have a history of Republican efforts.
Siebel-Newsom’s parents moved to Florida in 2020, her father registering as a Republican. A trust linked to the Siebels also made a $5,000 contribution to a PAC supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022.
According to data from the Federal Election Commission, Trump has raised $24.8 million in California between January 1, 2023, and August 8, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris has raised $65.6 million in that same period.
Trump appeared at a San Francisco-area event in June, where he raised $12 million.
Venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya held the reception, Reuters reported. “In 2016, the number of people from Silicon Valley I knew who supported Trump was a sample of one, which was Peter,” Jacob Helberg, an adviser to data analytics provider Palantir, told the outlet. “Today I count them in the dozens, if not more than that. Over the course of the past six months, we’ve started to see the dam break.”
