10/09/2026
After losing the March 2025 Oakland mayor’s race, the Oakland’s Astroturf Network is shifting focus to the school board, where it sees a better shot at winning. Empower Oakland, seeded by Chris Larsen and Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak, gave $45,423 to five school board candidates this November.
That’s small compared to their wealth, but a huge sum for Oakland school board races. Much of the money raised has gone to mailers supporting Empower Oakland’s candidates. In early October, Empower spent $18,000 on mailers backing Arielle Fleischer, a Waymo executive and member of Empower’s leadership team.
Empower Oakland launched in October 2024 with big checks from tech and hedge fund executives like Pollak and Phillip Dreyfuss, along with money from Govern for California, a dark money group later investigated for using regional chapters to dodge spending limits. Their 2024 results were mixed: Charlene Wang won District 2, but Loren Taylor for Mayor and Warren Logan for District 3 lost.
Empower Oakland’s funding web is tangled. Money flows through PACs tied to fellow astroturf organizations Revitalize East Bay, the Abundance Network, and billionaire donors like Philip Dreyfuss. Besides Fleishcer, Empower is also helping to financially back Kathryn Camp, Alexandra Williams, and LeAna Powell in Districts 4 and 6.
The upshot: school board seats are a cheap way to build a farm team for future City Council and Mayor races. Additionally, Empower may strategically be placing pro-charter school candidates in positions of power to close public schools and redirect their resources, a strategy used by pro-charter groups statewide.
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