Jocelyn Benson’s Big Tech-Funded Campaign
Michigan Legacy PAC appears to have one foot in Brooklyn and the other in Silicon Valley
As if Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s connections to data centers, big solar, and the CCP weren’t bad enough, the candidate for governor’s campaign finance records show her political operation increasingly resembles a coastal progressive’s not a Michigander’s.
Records show that Benson’s Political Action Committee, Michigan Legacy PAC paid $300,000 to Middle Seat Consulting, the progressive consulting firm that proudly lists its work with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on its homepage.
Middle Seat publicly markets itself as “the firm for progressive causes and candidates.”
Their mission? “We support campaigns, organizations, and causes fighting for racial justice, climate action, immigrant rights, intersectional feminism, economic justice, and more.”
Middle Seat clients include a campaign to “Protect the Squad” and helping Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer, who has made headlines for unarmed police, drivers licenses for illegals, and, most recently, an investigation after marijuana was reportedly discovered in her county-issued SUV.
And the money coming into Benson’s Legacy PAC is even more revealing.
The PAC’s largest donors are Jennifer and Kenneth Duda of Menlo Park, California, who together contributed roughly $1 million. Duda is co-founder and chief technical officer of Arista Networks, one of the world’s most important AI cloud and hyperscale data-center networking companies.
In other words: Duda works for the physical backbone of the same AI infrastructure and massive data-center expansion now flooding into Michigan with taxpayer subsidies.
Other major big tech donors include:
- Steve Silberstein, an influential early information-infrastructure entrepreneur, most known for founding Innovative Interfaces. Silberstein is a board member for National Popular Vote, a movement designed to override the Electoral College.
- Cayley Tull, daughter of Glen Tullman, founder of digital-health giant Livongo and venture firm 7wire Ventures, both heavily involved in cloud-based healthcare technology.
- Chris Larsen, a Silicon Valley tech billionaire (and Newsom supporter) whose companies helped build large-scale digital payment and enterprise financial infrastructure systems.
- Hisao Kushi, a longtime Silicon Valley platform entrepreneur and Peloton co-founder.
The filings show California donors dramatically outweigh Michigan donors.
If the PAC supporting her is propped up by tech giants hungry to install more data centers in Michigan, why should we expect her to listen to the 70% of hardworking Michiganders who oppose data centers near their homes?
Her political campaign is being built by the same coastal progressive politics and adds to the narrative that she is in bed with Big Tech.
Michigan Legacy PAC says it’s goal is to “keep working and fighting together to ensure we build the infrastructure necessary to win the battle for our democracy.”
The filings paint a different picture—while Michiganders worry about land, rising energy costs, local control, and jobs, Benson’s political machine is funded and shaped by the same coastal tech interests profiting from statewide transformation at their expense.
