First Friend: Kamala Harris’ alliance with Laurene Powell Jobs | Semafor

Powell Jobs is one of the few people whom even a president of the United States can’t elevate. The most sought-after rewards for donors — the Court of St. James, say — would be more or less lateral moves for someone whose net worth is estimated at $15 billion. Powell Jobs, through her Emerson Collective, has spent much of her fortune promoting mainstream Democratic views on issues like immigration and climate.

But the role of “first friend,” only occasionally occupied, can also be a powerful one. Gary Ginsberg, whose book on the subject featured Bill Clinton and Vernon Jordan among others, said the role can provide a “respite from the loneliest job in the world.”

Harris’ relationship with Powell Jobs also offers a glimpse at how Harris got here, at the kind of politics she’s expertly navigated, and at the world of vast California wealth and power. With a sprawling geography and expensive media markets, California’s politics are a kind of rolling invisible primary of relationships, positioning, and fundraising. Harris rose in large part building deep relationships and boxing out opponents, a skill that became clear when she quickly locked up the presidential nomination last month. A remarkable New York Times story details Harris’ private campaign to win over the Clintons, who then rushed to endorse her at the crucial moment.

Now political aides have begun, delicately, to ask whether Harris can convert this friendship into more tangible support. Powell Jobs largely stopped contributing directly to political candidates after buying The Atlantic in 2017, to avoid appearing to compromise its independence. But in 2023 she wrote $10,000 checks to nearly every state Democratic Party, gave six-figures to the Democratic National Committee. She also made a single exception to give a maximum $6,600 direct contribution to the Democratic presidential campaign, which for some reason shows up in federal filings as a contribution to Kamala Harris alone.

Vast pools of inherited wealth aren’t America’s favorite political force, but they’re a perennial one. Donald Trump is relying this cycle on giant donations to his allies from the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Miriam Adelson, and from an heir to the Mellon banking fortune.

And Powell Jobs’ vast wealth now means she, too, is one of the few people in the world who can write a check big enough to a Harris SuperPAC to impact an American presidential race. One Emerson Collective staffer, Ben Wessel, is serving as an unpaid adviser to the main Democratic SuperPAC, Future Forward, a spokesman for the Collective confirmed.

Will Powell Jobs write her friend a check for $100 million? A spokesperson wouldn’t comment.