San Francisco’s Democratic clubs serve a variety of roles in the city’s political life. They help facilitate participation in the political process, and are a training ground for those seeking elected office. The Richmond District Democratic Club, for example, has been the political home for the Richmond’s last four representatives to the Board of Supervisors. 

Twenty-seven Democratic clubs are chartered by the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, known as the SFDCCC, the local branch of the party. Historically, they’ve been grassroots organizations funded by dues-paying members. A typical Democratic club has far less than $10,000 in its bank account. 

Now, these mostly neighborhood-based clubs have become yet another vehicle for the billionaire-backed Astroturf Network. It has poured unprecedented sums into right-leaning Democratic clubs and formed new clubs to carry out its agenda. This comes after members of the network spent an eye-watering $1.8 million to flip the SFDCCC from a progressive to a conservative majority in the March 2024 election. The amount of money that poured into what is considered a “down-ballot race” was a watershed moment in the history of city politics.

Central to their interest is the role Democratic Clubs play during election season. The District 2 Democratic Club, the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, Westside Family Democratic Club, and San Francisco Eastern Neighborhoods Democratic Club have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from big-money groups during the past two years. Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, the right-wing Astroturf Network group created by William Oberndorf, a longtime donor to various conservative candidates and causes, has given $1.7 million to the Ed Lee Democratic Club, alone. Mary Jung, the co-founder of Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, served as the long-time president of the Ed Lee Democratic Club, and her protege Jay Cheng – former executive director of Neighbors – still serves on the Ed Lee Club’s board of directors. Unsurprisingly, the Ed Lee Democratic Club November election endorsements and those of Neighbor’s political project Blueprint for a Better San Francisco are nearly identical. 

Besides the Ed Lee Club, some of the newly chartered Democratic clubs enjoy similarly close relationships to the Astroturf Network. Billionaire Ron Conway, a reliable donor to conservative Democratic campaigns, was among those who bankrolled the Robert F. Kennedy Democratic Club. Conway, and his allies in tech and real estate gave $200,000 to get the club off the ground in 2016. A year later after it was chartered, the Robert F. Kennedy Democratic Club, was forced to change its name when members of the Kennedy family and the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee objected.

Now called the United Democratic Club, it typically endorses candidates and ballot initiatives aligned with its backers’ interests – chief among which this past year was controversial Y-Combinator President and former Grow SF board member, Garry Tan. Among the club’s recent endorsements was that of Matt Mahan, a current mayor of San Jose and gubernatorial candidate for the June 2026 election. Mahan, a self-described “moderate” popular among Silicon Valley tech elite, had his campaign floated by over $27 million from a tech-backed political action committee (PAC) called California Back to Basics. Major contributions came from prominent Republican and MAGA mega-donors, such as Stripe CEO Patrick Collison ($1.54 million), venture capitalist and charter school advocate William Oberndorf ($843,000) and Coinbase cryptocurrency CEO Brain Armstrong ($500,000). Despite being supported by the second most amount of campaign spending for the race, Mahan received just 3.5% of the vote, finishing sixth.

More recently, the United Democratic Club opposed the Overpaid CEO Tax, an initiative on the June 2026 ballot of which Neighbors for a Better San Francisco was the biggest donor ($810,000) mirroring the stance taken by Conway ($25,000), and his friends in tech such as Google co-founder Sergey Brin ($500,000) who fought vigorously against the measure’s passage.

Another recently chartered club, The Westside Family Democratic Club, formed in 2023, covers Districts 1, 4, and 7. It too started with the patronage of a member of the Astroturf Network. Among its founding members were Zack Rosen, who co-founded California YIMBY and the Abundance Network. His wife Robin Pam currently serves as its president. Like the United Democratic Club, Ed Lee Club, and other aligned newer clubs such as the Eastern Neighborhoods Democratic Club founded in 2018, their voter guides look nearly identical cycle-to-cycle, embracing Astroturf-backed candidates and referendums. 

In perhaps the most brazen attempt to influence an Democratic club endorsement, supporters of Trevor Chandler, a candidate for District 9 Supervisor, flooded an endorsement meeting of the Bernal Heights Democratic Club. 

Chandler’s opponent, progressive Jackie Fielder, was expected to easily secure the Bernal Heights club’s endorsement. Chartered more than 20 years ago, the 300-member club has a long history of endorsing left-leaning candidates and ballot measures. Before every election, the club’s volunteers hand deliver endorsement cards to every home in the neighborhood and it is considered a valuable endorsement for District 9 candidates.

According to Bernal’s bylaws, candidates must receive 60% of the vote to receive its nod. Chandler was a favorite of Astroturf Network groups receiving more than $200,000 in campaign contributions, including $50,000 directly from crypto billionaire Chris Larsen through a political action committee created by Rosen’s Abundance Network. Fielder missed the spring 2024 endorsement by a single vote after Chandler supporters mobilized en masse in preparation for the endorsement vote.

Club leadership called for a re-vote. Bernal’s bylines allow for multiple votes when no candidate meets the threshold for an endorsement. Fielder won in the second round, and went on to beat Chandler, earning 59.67% of the vote to his 40.33%, in the November 2024 election.

All in all, this strategy showcases that in order to expand their wealthy and conservative interests, there is no target too small, and no tactic too low, for the big-money interests seeking to move San Francisco dangerously to the right.