A former Google executive has filed the paperwork to join the growing ranks of Democrats seeking the Senate seat of retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
Lexi Reese, a Silicon Valley executive and investor who also worked for Facebook, said she’s considering a run. On Thursday, she submitted paperwork to the Federal Election Commission as a precursor to a potential campaign in the crowded Democratic field that also includes California Reps. Adam B. Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.
Reese, who lives in San Mateo, Calif., with her family, has never held elected office.
In a statement announcing her FEC filing, Reese said that, in the coming weeks, she will be “conferring with family and friends” about taking the official step to launch a campaign. She said she hopes to “have a final announcement to share with Californians soon.”
In the Thursday statement, Reese said Congress’s “failure to address” challenges like rising costs, financial fragility and income inequality is why “few people have faith” in the institution, and she would work to fix that if elected.
“As a working mom, I’ve spent my career in nonprofits and at technology and financial services businesses — working to help create economic opportunity for women and small businesses,” Reese said. “I want to put that expertise to work on behalf of working Californians to make lives easier for everyone in our state.”
Reese, a University of Virginia and Harvard Business School Graduate, served two stints at Google, first as a sales director and then as an executive in the tech giant’s Global Programmatic Platforms division. She worked briefly at Facebook between her times at Google, leading what her LinkedIn profile describes as a “short-lived and failed effort in online coupons.”
Most recently, Reese served as an executive at the Board Challenge, a nonprofit seeking to diversify boardrooms, and as a partner for Operator Collective, a venture fund.
Reese’s official website invites Californians to join her at an event to be held on June 29. In a Facebook page linked to her website, Reese said she wants “to be upfront about why I’m thinking about jumping in the race for U.S. Senate.”
“Our economy is a mess,” she wrote. “Too many Californians, particularly women and people of color, are left out of the prosperity that should be widely shared. Small businesses are struggling to get by. Meanwhile, politicians say they’re ‘fighting.’ My question is: with who? And for who?”
If she launches a campaign to succeed Feinstein, Reese will join not only a crowded field, but one brimming with Democrats with much larger name recognition.
All three House members have begun campaigning, with Schiff amassing a deep war chest and securing the support of powerful members of the party, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), while Lee has gained the endorsement of other high-profile Democratic House members.
Reese is promoting herself as a Democrat with a new vision for California and Washington.
“Our great state is at a tipping point, and I believe we need leaders with a different perspective to get us on the right track,” she said in her Thursday statement.
