DSA candidates bash billionaires – while still handing out checks to the super rich
Hypocrites who are members of the Democratic Socialists of America-affiliated receive money from multibillion-dollar donors – as their campaign messages resonate against the super-rich they claim to oppose.
DSA-LA’s email blast urging Angelenos to support candidates who will “fight ICE, billionaires and the Trump administration” is in direct conflict with the fundraising efforts of some of the candidates.
The glossy flyer – which also pushed supporters to RSVP to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ tax hike on the ultra-rich ‘Billionaire Tax’ rally – casts the movement as a popular uprising against higher power.
However, public records show several of the same people bankrolled by donors from the billionaire class they oppose.
Lefty City Council Member Eunisses Hernandez’s donor list includes names linked to billionaires from some of the country’s wealthiest families.
Among them: Philanthropist Susan Pritzker, who married the fortune of the Hyatt hotel. Records on the Los Angeles City Ethics website show that Pritzker donated $500 in 2025, after previous donations of $500 in 2023 and again during Hernandez’s 2021 primary campaign.
Patty Quillin — the Democratic mega-donor and wife of Netflix founder Reed Hastings — also appears as a repeat donor. The filing shows Quillin wrote several checks to Hernandez.
Another high-profile name: Elizabeth Simons, the multibillion-dollar heiress of the late hedge-fund titan Jim Simons. An ongoing megadonor contributed to Hernandez, according to an ethics filing.
The money close to a millionaire does not end with one campaign.
Quillin’s donations extend to other DSA-aligned candidates, including Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez and newly elected Lefty Ysabel Jurado, who also received checks from the same deep donor network.
In total, Simons has donated $59,500 to DSA-affiliated candidates through 2022. Pritzker has donated $76,800 to Los Angeles elections through 2021, including support for Mayor Karen Bass. Quinlin contributed $173,200 to LA races during the same period, including $35,000 to Eunisses Hernandez through the PAC Communities in Support of Eunisses Hernandez for City Council 2022.
An influx of high-dollar support has helped DSA-aligned campaigns build a formidable war chest. Hernandez has raised $213,727 so far, leading his field. Challenger Maria Lou Calanche brought in $134,710, followed by Raul Claros with $60,813.
Soto-Martinez also opened a huge fundraising gap in her re-election bid, reporting $109,189.27 compared to nearly $29,048 for her nearest challenger.
In the City Attorney race, DSA candidate Marissa Roy raised $462,664.39, putting her in a close tie with Hydee Feldstein Soto, who reported $686,334.51 in campaign funds.
