Karla Jurvetson
Karla Jurvetson (born 1965/66) is an American physician, philanthropist, major progressive political donor, and political organizer who lives in Silicon Valley. Career. Jurvetson works as a private practice physician in Los Altos, California. Personal life. Karla Jurvetson was born in New Haven, Connecticut and grew up in Palo Alto, CA. She earned a bachelor's degree in human biology from Stanford University, a medical doctorate from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, and completed her residency at Stanford Hospital. In 1990, she married Steve Jurvetson, who became a Silicon Valley early-stage investor in companies including  SpaceX in 2000 and Tesla in 2006. They were married for more than 25 years and have two children. They separated in 2015, she filed for divorce in 2016, and as of 2018 divorce proceedings were underway. In 2017, to honor her father's 50-year career as a medical school professor, Jurvetson helped fund the construction of the new Stanford Medical Center and endowed a professorship in her parents’ names. Philanthropy. Jurvetson served on the board of directors of Peninsula Open Space Trust from 2003 to 2006 and was a founding donor to Wildlife Conservation Network (2002 to present ). After touring deforestation on the slopes of Mauna Kea in 2016, she sponsored the planting of 1,000 indigenous trees through the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative. She served as a school board member for The Nueva School, which is located in the San Francisco Bay Area and was previously a kindergarten through 8th grade school. She co-chaired the school's $50 million capital campaign, which resulted in the construction of the San Mateo campus and the addition of a high school to Nueva (2011–2018). Jurvetson has been a trustee on several other non-profit boards, including the San Francisco  Ballet (2000-2003). She was named by Gentry Magazine as one of the top 50 philanthropists in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of 2020, Jurvetson is also a supporter of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum. Political activism. Karla Jurvetson has volunteered as a political organizer and a fundraiser for many Democratic candidates over the past thirty years, and is considered among the most important and influential Democratic political donors. As a Stanford undergraduate in 1988, Jurvetson went door-to-door for Anna Eshoo during her first campaign for Congress, handing out VCR tapes of Eshoo discussing her candidacy . In 2008 Jurvetson volunteered in the swing state of Nevada for then-candidate Barack Obama, as well as making 46 contributions to Democrats totaling $128,700. In 2016, she canvassed door-to-door in Nevada for Hillary Clinton and for Catherine Cortez Masto, who became the first Latina U.S. Senator. After the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, her donations to Democratic candidates markedly increased to $6.9 million in advance of the 2018 midterms, making her one of the nation's top political donors. In an interview about the 2018 elections, Jurvetson said, "Women disproportionately were the activists , the volunteers, the people who drove change... Women have gained enough economic power and political power so we can translate our frustration into action... I feel like it’s our moral duty, if we’re not going to run ourselves, to support the women who are brave enough to put their names on the ballot." For the 2018 elections, Jurvetson helped with voter registration drives, and co-hosted fundraisers for Democratic Party candidates. Jurvetson also serves on the Board of Directors of EMILY's List, the nation's largest organization for women in politics, which has over five million members . Jurvetson has contributed more than $30 million to the organization since 2018, support which longtime Emily's List President Stephanie Schriock credited with "having single-handedly changed our ability to win more races." Controversy arose with her large donation of $5.4m to Women Vote!, the political action committee run by EMILY's List. Her donation was in the form of Baidu shares, a Chinese internet company traded on the US stock exchange and was unusual outside of Silicon Valley since it was in the form of stock shares. The controversy arose because only American citizens can donate  to U.S. elections. An EMILY's List spokesperson said, "We cleared the donation through our lawyers". In November 2018, Jurvetson was listed as one of five "surprising million dollar donors" to the US midterm elections. Through Jurvetson's financial support, the Women Vote! effort contributed significantly to Democrats retaking Control of the U.S. House of Representatives and towards the historic election of the first two Native American women ever to serve in the U.S. Congress, former New Mexico Congresswoman and current U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Congresswoman Sharice Davids (KS-03). In November 2019, Jurvetson hosted a Democratic  National Committee (DNC) reception at her home in November 2019 with President Barack Obama. At that time, the DNC had just $8.7 million cash on hand and $7 million in debts, compared to the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign, which had over $158 million cash on hand. Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha Curry, were co-hosts for the event, which raised over $3.5 million for the DNC Unity Fund that was formed to support the eventual Democratic presidential nominee. Also in 2019, Jurvetson contributed over $1 million to  Fair Fight, an organization founded by Stacey Abrams after her narrow loss in the 2018 race for governor of Georgia against Brian Kemp. In January 2020 she donated $14.6 million to Persist PAC, which supported Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign. In June 2020, when Joe Biden secured the Democratic nomination, she contributed $1,000,000 to his PAC, Unite the Country. Outside of the presidential race, Jurvetson donated to more than 500 races across the country in 2020, ranging from congressional contests to state-level races. She also gave $3.9 million to Forward Majority Action, a PAC focused on  winning state-level contests. In 2021 and early 2022, Jurvetson was a leader among major Democratic donors in urging President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Democratic Congressional leaders to pursue passage of comprehensive voting rights legislation in response to laws passed in many states by Republican legislatures to severely limit or restrict ballot access and voting rights. For the 2022 election cycle, she has continued to support Democrats running for local, state and federal office, including Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro's campaign for Governor, and Texas State Representative Jasmine Crockett's campaign for Congress in the 30th Congressional  District (Dallas-Ft. Worth). Jurvetson was an early supporter of Crockett, who is running to succeed retiring Congresswoman Eddie Bernice-Johnson. Crockett said she met Jurvetson at a private dinner in D.C. along with the brother of civil rights icon John Lewis, following a march for voting rights. Jurvetson was impressed with Crockett's willingness to be “brave” and “outspoken” on the issue of voting rights. “What Jasmine is focusing on really has ramifications for our whole country as far as fair representation for our whole democracy,” Jurvetson said. “Because of the environment we're in right now, where the  issue of voting rights has become nationalized, it really is something that impacts everyone in the country.”