# William Oberndorf The Republican billionaire behind San Francisco's war on progressive governance — and a case study in how national dark-money donor networks operate at the municipal level. William Oberndorf, through his SPO Partners fortune and the Neighbors for a Better San Francisco PAC, bankrolled the recalls of District Attorney [[Chesa Boudin]] and three school board members in 2022, spending millions to reshape city politics alongside tech-sector allies including [[David Sacks]]. His involvement in SF politics connects the national school-choice privatization movement, the anti-"woke" tech backlash, and the Republican donor class's strategic interest in demonstrating that progressive criminal justice reform can be defeated even in the most liberal city in America. ## Background Born in Cleveland, Ohio. Williams College (BA 1975), Stanford Graduate School of Business (MBA). Founded **SPO Partners** in 1989, a San Francisco-based hedge fund that grew to approximately $9 billion in assets under management before Oberndorf retired from active management in 2012. The firm's investments were concentrated in public equities with a value-oriented approach. Estimated net worth in the low billions. Registered Republican for decades, with over $13 million in documented donations to Republican candidates and committees going back to [[George H.W. Bush]], according to FEC records. ## The School Choice Empire Before he became known for SF recall politics, Oberndorf was one of America's leading school privatization donors: - **Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus** of the Alliance for [[School Choice]] (now part of the [[American Federation for Children]]), a 501(c)(3) that promotes voucher programs and charter schools through [[ALEC]] and other legislative channels - **Simon-DeVos Prize** recipient from the Philanthropy Roundtable for his education reform work — the prize is named for the DeVos family ([[Betsy DeVos]], Trump's Education Secretary) - Credited with giving "tens of millions" of his personal wealth to the school choice movement - Called the passage of Indiana's voucher law the "gold standard" for what should be done nationally - The Bill and Susan Oberndorf Foundation provides substantial funding to charter school networks, education reform organizations, and school choice advocacy groups - Major investor in Voyager, a literacy curriculum company implemented by Florida Governor [[Jeb Bush]]'s education reforms The school choice connection is significant because it places Oberndorf within the broader conservative infrastructure: ALEC, the DeVos network, the Philanthropy Roundtable, and the Koch-adjacent donor ecosystem that views public education as a target for privatization. His later SF political spending grows out of the same ideological roots. ## The San Francisco Recalls (2022) ### Neighbors for a Better San Francisco Oberndorf is the principal funder of **Neighbors for a Better San Francisco**, a political action committee launched in 2020 that quickly became the dominant force in San Francisco politics. Key facts: - Oberndorf contributed approximately **$900,000+** to the PAC in 2020–2021 alone - The PAC has been the single largest political spending entity in San Francisco since August 2022, with total contributions exceeding **$4.1 million** in a two-year period — four times the next largest PAC - Despite its name suggesting a local grassroots operation, the PAC is based in San Rafael (outside San Francisco) and funded primarily by Republican billionaires ### The Boudin Recall On June 7, 2022, San Francisco voters recalled progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin by a 55–45 margin. Neighbors for a Better San Francisco contributed approximately **$4.7 million** to the recall campaign — around 80% of total pro-recall funding. The recall was framed by organizers as a response to rising crime and quality-of-life concerns under Boudin's progressive prosecution policies. Critics noted the heavy involvement of Republican megadonors (Oberndorf) and tech billionaires ([[David Sacks]], who hosted fundraisers) in a city where registered Republicans are a negligible minority. The Boudin recall became a national political flashpoint — cited by conservatives as evidence that even liberal cities were rejecting progressive criminal justice reform, and by progressives as an example of billionaire-funded astroturf politics overriding democratic governance. ### The School Board Recall In February 2022, San Francisco recalled three progressive school board members. The recalls were funded through overlapping donor networks with the Boudin recall, with Oberndorf and Neighbors PAC playing a significant role. ### Ethics Violations KQED reported that the Neighbors PAC was fined for ethics violations related to its spending during the 2022 Boudin recall, including improper coordination and disclosure failures. ### 2024 and after In the 2024 mayor's race Oberndorf put **$1.2M** behind Mark Farrell and the governance measure Prop D, and both lost to [[Daniel Lurie]] and the voters. In January 2025 [[TogetherSF]] merged into Neighbors. Mission Local reports that Lurie has kept his distance from Oberndorf and the group even where they agree, as in the June 2026 business-tax fight ([[San Francisco Overpaid CEO Tax]]). See [[Neighbors for a Better San Francisco]]. ## The Sacks Connection Oberndorf's San Francisco political spending overlaps significantly with [[David Sacks]]'s political trajectory. Sacks — PayPal founding COO, [[Craft Ventures]] GP, and future [[Trump White House]] "crypto czar" — was a major funder and public face of the Boudin recall effort. The recall campaign served as a political proving ground for the tech-right alliance that would later support Trump's 2024 campaign and populate his second administration. The overlap illustrates the pattern: municipal politics as a testing ground for national political strategies, with billionaire donors using local recalls and ballot measures to build political infrastructure, test messaging, and demonstrate viability before deploying the same approach at scale. ## Analytical Framework Oberndorf represents the **Republican donor class's municipal strategy** — using concentrated wealth to reshape city-level politics in ways that generate nationally useful narratives. The Boudin recall was not just about San Francisco crime policy; it was about creating a proof-of-concept that progressive governance can be defeated by organized money, even in the most progressive cities. The school choice → ALEC → municipal PAC → tech-right alliance pipeline illustrates how conservative infrastructure that was built for one purpose (privatizing public education) adapts to new targets (progressive prosecutors, school boards) while maintaining the same underlying donors, organizations, and ideological commitments. ## See Also - [[Neighbors for a Better San Francisco]] — The PAC/c4 he chairs and funds - [[Daniel Lurie]] · [[TogetherSF]] - [[David Sacks]] — Tech billionaire co-funder of the Boudin recall, later Trump crypto czar - [[ALEC]] — Legislative infrastructure that Oberndorf's school choice organizations operate through - [[Revolving Door]] — The donor-to-policy pipeline at the municipal level