Although endorsed by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and a former opponent, survey and election data both show that San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan has bridges to build. sfchronicle.com/politics/art…

An analysis of campaign finance data shows which Bay Area companies and occupations are most Democratic and Republican sfchronicle.com/projects/202…

For most of the past two decades, Google co-founder Sergey Brin kept his billions away from the ballot box. He floated a bit of pocket change to a couple of causes, usually left-oriented: $1 million to a California clean energy group in 2006, $100,000 to oppose California’s gay marriage ban in 2008 and $36,000 to support President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. But after helping subsidize rideshare rides to polling centers in 2017, the donations stopped. It seemed that Brin had closed his pocketbook to politics. So why, after decades of political aloofness, has the world’s third-wealthiest person dropped more than $85 million on California elections this year — instantly becoming one of the state’s biggest political donors of the past quarter-century? Almost all of the money Brin donated this year went to Building a Better California, a political action committee formed in February. The New York Times reported in April that Brin has helped fundraise for the group, which has also received seven- or eight-figure donations from Silicon Valley venture capitalists John Doerr and Michael Moritz. On its website, Building a Better California describes itself as a nonpartisan group advocating for more housing, better education and good-paying jobs. But by far the bulk of its spending — roughly $100 million — has gone to support potential measures that would counteract a “billionaire tax” that a healthcare union is aiming to put on the November ballot. One counter-measure, for example, would ban new taxes on retirement savings — and investment accounts.