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Chevron has downsized its presence in the Tri-Valley in the years since selling its former headquarters back to developers and shifting most of its corporate functions to Texas. But campaign finance records show its scaled-down San Ramon offices still contributed millions of dollars toward federal races this election season, the majority of which went to groups backing Republican candidates.
Other Tri-Valley contributions to federal races were much smaller, with no single donation exceeding $100,000.
The energy company’s San Ramon offices contributed $3.9 million to the Senate Leadership Fund PAC, which is dedicated to protecting and expanding the Republican Senate majority.
The PAC backed 26 Republican U.S. Senate candidates in states outside of California in the current election cycle, though its top disbursements this year were two $1.05 million bankruptcy payments to the FTX Recovery Trust. The trust was established in 2023 as the disgraced cryptocurrency company’s founders sought to recover previous campaign donations.
Finance records also show that Chevron donated $200,000 each to the Great Lakes Conservatives Fund, Ohio Flyer, Pine Tree Results and Last Frontier PACs, all of which support Republican candidates.
Last Frontier is a Senate Leadership Fund-aligned group that supported incumbent Alaska Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in the Republican primary against Dan J. Sullivan, one of two Republican challengers. Republicans have accused Democrats of recruiting Dan J. Sullivan to confuse voters and siphon votes away from Dan S. Sullivan. As of Wednesday evening, Dan S. Sullivan was locked in a tight battle with Democrat Mary Peltola for the seat.
The Pine Tree Results PAC was formed to support Susan Collins, the incumbent Republican senator from Maine who lost her seat to Democratic challenger Troy Jackson in yesterday’s election. The Ohio Flyer PAC supported incumbent Republican John Husted, who lost the Ohio U.S. Senate race to Democrat Sherrod Brown, while the Great Lakes Conservatives Fund threw its weight behind Trump-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan. He was defeated by Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.
Chevron also donated $100,000 to the Center Forward Committee and $50,000 to the Governing Majority Fund, the Association of Texas Conservatives and the For Our Values PAC, an independent expenditure committee supporting Melissa Hernandez’s bid for the Congressional District 14 seat.
It contributed $25,000 to the Value in Electing Women PAC, which works to elect Republican women to the U.S. House and Senate, and made $10,000 donations to a number of other organizations, including the LGBTQ Victory Fund PAC.
In addition, Chevron executive Christopher Powers donated $100,000 to the Love America Uphold Freedom PAC, which backed former Trump cabinet member and Florida U.S. Senate candidate Catalina Lauf, who lost the Republican primary.
Representatives for Chevron did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the company’s federal campaign spending or on why some of its donations are listed as being from California while others are from Texas, according to Federal Election Commission data.
The Sheet Metal Workers Local 104 PAC and CMG Mortgage were the only other San Ramon-based organizations to make major donations to federal races, donating $10,000 to the Committee for Working Families and the For Our Values PAC, respectively.
One resident in Pleasanton and another from Danville combined to donate more than $200,000 to the Republican National Committee. Danville residents also donated to the NRSC PAC, which aims to maintain a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, and the Mike Whatley Victory Committee; Whatley lost his bid for the North Carolina U.S. Senate seat to Democrat Roy Cooper.
One Danville resident donated $10,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and another donated the same amount to the campaign for former South Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Paul Dans, who dropped out of the race ahead of the Republican primary.
Pleasanton residents also made individual donations to the Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund and the Empowerment Fund, which backs Democrat congressional candidates in competitive races.
Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert donated $25,000 to the For Our Values PAC in support of Hernandez. Other local donations to the PAC included $25,000 from a Dublin resident, $10,000 from CMG Mortgage and $5,000 from the Livermore-Pleasanton Firefighters PAC, according to the FEC.
Hernandez outraised and outspent incumbent Sen. Aisha Wahab in the race, though according to campaign finance reports, Wahab’s campaign saw a number of major donations from outside the Tri-Valley in the weeks ahead of Election Day. Wahab on Wednesday declared victory in the race, though Hernandez said she won’t concede based on the current vote counts.
