DSA CASH PIPELINE: Benitez-Thompson Draws Max Checks From Megadonors With Deep Left-Wing Ties

RENO, Nev. — Democrat congressional candidate Teresa Benitez-Thompson is pulling thousands of dollars from some of the country’s most prolific progressive donors, including maximum contributions from a hedge fund manager who just dumped $4 million into electing a dues-paying Democratic Socialists of America member as mayor of Los Angeles.

New campaign-finance records reviewed for this story list $3,500 contributions, the federal maximum for an individual per election, from Aaron Sosnick, Kat Taylor and Joseph Alsop. The records also list $2,000 from Karla Jurvetson and $1,000 from longtime Democrat megadonor Merle Chambers. The FEC sets the individual candidate contribution limit at $3,500 per election for the 2025-26 cycle. Its online summary for Benitez-Thompson’s Elect Teresa committee still reflects totals through June 30 and warns that newly filed data may take time to populate. 

Sosnick provides the clearest connection to the socialist left.

The Reno-listed hedge fund manager who runs A.R.T. Advisors has poured $4 million into independent committees supporting Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, according to the Los Angeles Times. Raman is not merely endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America. She is herself a DSA member, and the organization’s Los Angeles chapter endorsed her again in September after a membership vote. 

DSA-LA’s own voter guide previously described Raman as a “dues-paying member” and committed chapter resources to electing her. Sosnick has now become the biggest individual financial force helping put her in the Los Angeles mayor’s office. 

Then there is California megadonor Karla Jurvetson, whose political checkbook has financed an enormous constellation of progressive causes. Records compiled by Civitics show Jurvetson gave $14.6 million to Persist PAC, which supported Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, $3.9 million to Forward Majority Action and $1.5 million to the Working Families Party PAC. Arizona records show she also poured roughly $1.85 million into the Arizona Democrat Party during the 2020 cycle. 

Taylor, meanwhile, is the co-founder and board chair of Beneficial State Bank and the wife of billionaire Democrat activist and former presidential candidate Tom Steyer. Her own biography says she works to advance “social, racial, gender justice, and environmental well-being,” while Beneficial State describes the couple as founders of a banking model focused on social and environmental outcomes. 

Chambers has spent decades funding Democrat causes. She gave $200,000 to Fair Share Action in 2012 and has contributed heavily to Democrat candidates and committees for years.

The public record does not establish that every donor listed above is personally a DSA member. What it does establish is a donor network packed with major financiers of progressive candidates, organizations and causes, including a maximum Benitez-Thompson donor now spending millions to elect an actual DSA member.

Benitez-Thompson has pitched herself in Nevada’s sprawling 2nd District as a candidate focused on Northern Nevada families and rural communities.

Her expanding donor roster suggests plenty of interest far beyond them.

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