Simone Otus Coxe is a Democratic Party donor, ¹ philanthropist, co-founder of the left-of-center news outlet CalMatters, and the spouse of venture capitalist billionaire and Nvidia board member Tench Coxe. ²

Early Life

Simone Otus Coxe received a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from the University of California, Berkeley in 1981. ³ In 1985, Otus Coxe founded Blanc & Otus, ³ a public relations and communications firm for technology companies. ⁴

CalMatters

Simone Otus Coxe founded CalMatters in 2015. ³ CalMatters is a news outlet that focuses on state and local politics ⁵ and is funded or receives non-financial support from by left-of-center grantmaking organizations including States Newsroom, ⁶ 11^th Hour Project, Schmidt Family Foundation, Arnold Ventures, and the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation. ⁷

Political Contributions

In 2023 and 2024, Simone Otus Coxe exclusively contributed to Democratic Party politicians and PACs. ⁸ In 2023 and 2024, Otus Coxe contributed to President Joe Biden’s presidential re-election campaign ($6,600), Sen. John Tester’s (D-MT) 2024 senate campaign race ($6,600), Rep. Collin Allred’s (D-TX) senate campaign ($6,600), Michelle Vallejo’s (D) race for Texas’ 15^th Congressional District ($3,300), Texas State Rep. Julie Johnson’s (D)  race for Texas’  32^nd Congressional District ($1,000), Adam Frisch’s (D) race for Colorado’s 3^rd Congressional District ($1,000) and race of Joe Simitian (D) for California’s 16^th Congressional District ($2,000). ⁸

In addition to campaign committee contributions, Otus Coxe contributed to the Democratic Party aligned Powered by People Super PAC ($100,000), Democratic Party aligned VoteVets Super PAC ($2,500),  the Democratic Party aligned Mind the Gap Super PAC ($10,000), and the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee authorized by the Joe Biden presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee ($6,600). ⁸

Concern Regarding Multi-Family Housing

In 2017, SImone Otus Coxe sent an e-mail to the Palo Alto City Council expressing concern over the city allowing second dwellings in single family unit houses and highlighted that the council should “should do extensive research on the potential impacts—including parking, privacy, aesthetics, etc.” of such a policy, ⁹ adding that it would be “unfair and unwise to pass such an ordinance” without more extensive analysis. ⁹

1. Svitek, Patrick.  “Beto O’Rourke gets $2 million, his largest campaign donation yet, from Austin couple.” Texas Tribune. July 12, 2022. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/16/beto-orourke-donor-simone-tench-coxe/
2. Giorno, Taylor. “Gov. Ron DeSantis on pace to break gubernatorial fundraising record.” OpenSecrets. August 16, 2022. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/08/florida-governor-ron-desantis-break-gubernatorial-fundraising-record/
3. “Simone Coxe.” LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-coxe-94355061/
4. “Blanc & Otus.” LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/blanc-&-otus/about/
5. “About Us.” CalMatters. https://calmatters.org/about/
6. “Impact Report 2023.” States Newsroom. https://statesnewsroom.com/impact-report-2023/
7. “How We’re Funded.” CalMatters. https://calmatters.org/about/funding/
8. “Simone Coxe-Individual Contributions – 2023-2024” Federal Election Commission. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=SIMONE+COXE&two_year_transaction_period=2024&min_date=01%2F01%2F2023
9. “Simone Otus Coxe – Second Dwelling Ordinance.” Palo Alto Letters from Citizens to the Mayor or City Council. May 7, 2017. https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/agendas-minutes-reports/agendas-minutes/city-council-agendas-minutes/00-archive/2017/doc-letters-5-22-2017-set-1.pdf