Billionaire epically slaps down Dems with $8M for voter ID
A former Democrat who co-founded Airbnb contributed $8 million.
A guy who helped build a company worth over a hundred billion dollars just spent $8 million of his own money to back voter ID laws. Joe Gebbia, the Airbnb co-founder, used to be a Democrat. That part seems to be what's burning people up.
Commentary is separate from the original publisher's reporting.
A billionaire former Democrat is making a splash with an $8 million contribution to California’s voter ID ballot measure — giving the campaign for strict voter security measures a last-minute financial push ahead of the November election.
Airbnb co-founder Joseph Gebbia donated Tuesday to the main committee backing Proposition 39, Californians for Voter ID. Prop 39, if approved by voters, would require California voters to show ID at the polls and other verification for mail-in ballots.
The donation would push Californians for Voter ID’s total cash on hand in September from $12.9 million to around $20.9 million now. Meanwhile, the four committees behind campaigns against Prop 39 had just $8.4 million on hand.
The Post reached out to Californians for Voter ID for comment.
Gebbia has donated to Democrats, such as Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, in the past. But more recently, the wealthy tech entrepreneur has aligned himself with President Donald Trump, even taking a role with the Department of Government Efficiency.
Other prominent supporters of the pro-voter ID campaign include Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 vice presidential candidate, and crypto titans Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
California Dems are rallying against the measure — as the No on Prop 39 campaign blasted the voter security measure as a “MAGA power grab” and attempt to “rig” elections.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is joining the “No on 39” side as an “honorary co-chair,” the campaign announced Wednesday.
Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix, and his liberal donor wife Patty Quillin have contributed $2.5 million to block the voter ID measure.
Newsom’s likely successor, gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, and state legislative leaders have also been named honorary leaders of the opposition campaign.
The Post reached out to the governor’s office and political team on what Newsom’s role would actually entail. Newsom is planning to campaign aggressively against Prop 39.
“Trump and his MAGA allies tried to rig our elections once, and California voters shut them down with Prop 50,” Newsom said in a statement to Politico. “Prop 39 is just their latest attempt to silence us, because they know they can’t win in California in a fair fight.
The latest polls for Prop 39 show a tight race. According to a Sept. 21 to 24 poll by Mason-Dixon Polling, 49% of voters said they would vote “yes” while 42% said “no.”
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
A guy who helped build a company worth over a hundred billion dollars just spent $8 million of his own money to back voter ID laws. Joe Gebbia, the Airbnb co-founder, used to be a Democrat. That part seems to be what's burning people up. He didn't just write a check, he went public with it. And the reaction from the left has been exactly what you'd expect: frantic, personal, and completely missing the point.
Here's the thing about voter ID that Democrats refuse to face. It is enormously popular. Poll after poll shows Americans across every demographic support showing a photo ID before casting a ballot. Why wouldn't they? You need an ID to buy cold medicine, board a plane, or open a bank account. Gebbia's whole business model relies on verifying people's identities. He sees the absurdity in treating a driver's license as too burdensome for democracy. The left calls it suppression. Everyone else calls it common sense.
The real reason this donation stings is that it breaks the narrative. Democrats like to pretend that only out-of-touch right-wingers support election integrity. Now you have a Silicon Valley billionaire, a former liberal donor, putting real money behind the idea that voting is a right, but it's not a mystery. He's not asking for anything extreme. Just match the name on the ballot to the name on an ID. The smear campaign against him says more about their desperation than about his proposal.
What Gebbia seems to understand, and what the Democratic machine refuses to learn, is that the voter ID fight isn't about racism or voter suppression. It's about trust. If you can't prove who you are when you vote, you can't prove the election was fair. Once people stop trusting the system, they stop accepting the results. That's how elections become a joke. Maybe the left should listen to the guy who made billions connecting strangers online. He knows a little something about what happens when you skip the ID check.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.