Vinod Khosla, who purchased the Seattle Seahawks in the offseason for a record fee for a sports team, has chosen a political team to invest his money in ahead of the midterms
15:24 ET, 31 Oct 2026Updated 09:13 ET, 01 Nov 2026
Vinod Khosla has donated to a range of political movements over the years(Image: Getty Images)
Seattle Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla has flirted with both sides of the political spectrum over the years, but he is backing the Democrats this time around.
Back in July, Khosla agreed to purchase the Seahawks for $9.612 billion. The deal marked the largest sale price in NFL history and eclipses the previous record of $6.05 billion paid for the Washington Commanders in 2023.
Ahead of the midterm elections, Khosla has donated close to $2 million to Democratic political campaigns and committees. With the midterm elections less than a week away, professional sports team owners have spent tens of millions of dollars – and according to Front Office Sports, Khosla is one of the few backing blue. He donated his sum to a Senate Democratic PAC in the 2025-26 election cycle.
Along with his wife Neeru and son Neal, Khosla took the reins of the Seahawks franchise – the defending Super Bowl champions – from the estate of the late Paul Allen, who owned the team from 1997 until his death in 2018. While he will own the NFC West franchise, Khosla has decided not to run the Seahawks, handing over control to Neeru.
Still, from an ownership standpoint, Khosla is the face of the team, which recently defeated the Kansas City Chiefs to move above .500, and he is ultimately one of a few sports owners to contribute to the Democrats.
Khosla’s spending was the second-most of all NFL owners for this election cycle, behind just the Denver Broncos’ Rob Walton. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank was the only other NFL owner on the list.
Vinod Khosla took over the Seahawks in the offseason(Image: Getty Images)
However, according to FOS, records from the Federal Election Commission show that outside of Khosla and Blank, “nearly every NFL dollar spent on Tuesday’s races went toward Republicans, led by the Walton-Penner family who owns the Broncos.”
Khosla has donated to Democratic candidates Sherrod Brown (Ohio), LaMonica McIver (New Jersey), and Roy Cooper (North Carolina). However, he has crossed the political line: donations totaling $5,000 went to Tennessee Republican Chuck Fleischmann’s congressional campaign.
Khosla still has plenty of capital at his disposal. He has an estimated net worth of $13.7 billion.
Khosla was born in Pune, India, and co-founded Sun Microsystems before launching the venture capital firm Khosla Ventures in 2004, which has backed companies including OpenAI, DoorDash, and Affirm. Throughout his life, Khosla has shown support and donated to a mix of Democrats and Republicans as he truly backs politicians based on their climate policies.
He has ultimately leaned toward the Democrats over the years. Khosla hosted Barack Obama for a fundraising dinner in 2013 and Joe Biden at his home in 2024. He endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and also backed Kamala Harris in 2024.
In a social media exchange after Elon Musk referenced supporting Donald Trump, Khosla stated it was “hard for me to support someone with no values, lies, cheats, rapes, demeans women, hates immigrants like me.” He even joined “VCs for Kamala,” a group of more than 100 tech investors and entrepreneurs who signed on for Harris.