Santa Clara County has become the epicenter of a high-stakes political showdown, with tech industry giants pumping millions into races designed to block a proposed wealth tax on California’s billionaires. The tension is playing out in two major contests that perfectly capture the clash between Silicon Valley’s money and California’s progressive politics.

In the 17th Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Ro Khanna is facing a surprisingly competitive primary challenge from Ethan Agarwal, a tech founder and fellow Democrat. On the surface, Agarwal’s campaign focuses on local issues like childhood poverty and job creation. But there’s an elephant in the room: Agarwal is backed by Silicon Valley titans like YCombinator CEO Garry Tan, and he’s loudly opposed to the ballot initiative that would impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on those worth over $1 billion. Khanna, meanwhile, has become one of the tax’s most vocal champions, arguing that 90% of the revenue would fund public health care services.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s gubernatorial campaign tells a similar story. Despite polling numbers that would typically relegate a candidate to obscurity, Mahan has become impossible to ignore thanks to massive financial backing from tech elites. He’s appeared on The Daily Show, scored a Super Bowl ad, and received steady coverage in major outlets, all while blasting the same billionaire tax that his donors desperately want to kill. Mahan has also received millions in funding from figures like Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale.

The real money, though, is flowing into political action committees designed to oppose the wealth tax directly. The California Business Roundtable received $3 million from Peter Thiel and $1 million from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Another anti-tax committee, Building a Better California, has raked in millions from executives at companies like DoorDash and Stripe. Even Google co-founder Sergey Brin is hedging his bets, donating to both Mahan and conservative Steve Hilton.

Santa Clara County Democratic Party Chair Bill James sees these races as a symptom of a larger phenomenon. “Santa Clara County is an overwhelmingly liberal, progressive area with tech industries and a small group of billionaires with a lot of money”, he said. James doesn’t view Agarwal’s candidacy as a genuine grassroots challenge to Khanna, but rather as a vehicle for billionaires to punish an elected official for his economic populism.

Khanna argues that state ballot measures absolutely matter for federal lawmakers. “We need a new tech social contract”, he told reporters. “It’s fine to have economic growth and innovation, but our politics shouldn’t be dictated by billionaires from outside the district”.

Agarwal counters that as a congressman, neither he nor Khanna would have any direct impact on a state ballot measure, a point that glosses over the broader question: What does it say about California politics when billionaires can essentially fund primary challenges to silence dissenting voices?