Scott vs. Palantir
Former Palantir employee Scott Sakakihara says leaving the tech giant—and running for State Senate—are part of the same fight
☕️MORNING BUZZ
Vol. VI, No. 1,220
ELECTION 2026
78 days to June Primary Day
—In a political climate defined by aggressive immigration enforcement and growing skepticism toward powerful technology companies, 10th State Senate District candidate Scott Sakakihara is unusually direct about a line on his résumé that might give many candidates pause: his years working at Palantir.
Rather than downplay it, Sakakihara leans into the story—and into why he ultimately walked away.
“I think what the company is doing right now is not okay,” he said in a recent interview at a coffee shop in Union City. “That was a large part of why I ended up leaving.”
Sakakihara officially departed the Silicon Valley data analytics firm in December, but he describes the decision as a long, gradual process rather than a single moment of rupture.
Over the past year, he said, he increasingly felt at odds with the company’s direction, particularly its work connected to federal immigration enforcement.
“I want to make it super clear,” he said. “I’m very much against what is going on with the ICE raids.”
For Sakakihara, the issue carries personal resonance. His grandparents were among the Japanese Americans incarcerated in internment camps during World War II. Growing up with those family stories shaped his view of government power and civil liberties.
“They said it wasn’t going to happen again,” he said of the internment of specific groups. “And I feel like now it’s basically happening again.”
A shift inside Palantir
Sakakihara said he joined Palantir years ago because he believed in the company’s mission to apply data analysis to public-sector problems. Early in his tenure, he pointed to work helping the Centers for Disease Control track infectious diseases, assisting the IRS in identifying corporate tax cheats, and other government projects framed as public good.
Sakakihara believed in the mission of the company when he started in the early 2010s.“The reason why I worked there in the first place wasn’t to collect a paycheck.”
He worked as chief of staff within the company’s finance department, helping manage expense forecasting and auditing. It was a role that, he said, kept him largely removed from decisions about which clients the company ultimately served.
“I wasn’t in a part of the company that really had a lot of influence over who our customers were going to be,” he said.
For years, the company maintained an internal boundary when it came to immigration enforcement.
“Specifically they had always drawn the line on we’re not going to do any work with the branch of ICE that is in charge of enforcement and removal operations,” he said. “That was our line.”
But he said that stance shifted as immigration enforcement expanded and as Palantir leadership took a different view of the company’s role.
“As Trump was ramping up ICE raids, the leadership went full MAGA,” Sakakihara said of Palantir. “That was the line that I had set for myself.”
Once that line moved, he said he realized he had little ability to influence the company’s decisions. “That was where it became clear: I’m not in a position where I can sway anyone on this,” he said. “So that became a big part of why I ended up leaving.”
Sakakihara said the company’s leadership was open internally about its reasoning for the work with ICE. “I understood the rationale,” he said. “But I disagreed with the final call.”
Politics before the campaign
Critics have suggested Sakakihara’s break with Palantir conveniently coincides with his campaign for the 10th State Senate District seat. But the timeline says otherwise.
The seat only became widely viewed as potentially open in December when incumbent Sen. Aisha Wahab began exploring a possible run for Congress. Before that, Sakakihara had already been taking public positions on national and international issues as a member of the Union City Council.
He attempted to establish a local committee modeled after Alameda County’s “Together for All” effort aimed at coordinating local responses to Trump-era immigration policies. The idea did not gain enough support among council colleagues.
At Ava Community Energy, the East Bay’s public power provider where he represents Union City on its board, Sakakihara voted against a vendor that had a contract with ICE. He also pushed for Union City to consider a Gaza ceasefire resolution in 2024 and advocated for a citywide ethical investment policy similar to one proposed at the county level.
Those efforts, he said, reflect a broader motivation that predates his Senate bid.
Leaving Palantir and running for the state senate is an opportunity to fight back against the Trump administration and ICE, he said.
Sakakihara, who is also a U.S. Navy reserve intelligence officer, argues the political stakes have grown even higher as the Trump administration returned to power.
During the first Trump presidency, he said, internal constraints within the administration still limited some policies. Today, he sees fewer guardrails. “Trump II has gone off the rails,” he said.
Campaign money and transparency
Sakakihara’s work in the tech sector has also provided a financial boost to his campaign. He seeded his State Senate campaign with $250,000 in personal funds, money he accumulated largely through equity earned during his time at Palantir.
When he first joined the company, he said, salaries were not competitive with other tech firms, so employees were compensated partly through company equity. “That’s how early employees were paid,” he said. “We couldn’t compete on salaries.”
Sakakihara acknowledges he could invest additional personal funds into the campaign if necessary, though he said transparency about the source of that money is important. “I want people to have full information that this is part of my background,” he said.
He says there are two lines he does not intend to cross during the race.
The first is full disclosure about his past. “I’m just going to be upfront,” he said. “Yes, I seeded my campaign with this much. Yes, I did work for this employer. Here’s why.”
The second is campaign tactics.
“I’m not going to mount an attack or make something up about my opponents,” he said. “If that’s what it takes to win, that’s not what I want to do.”
A platform rooted in local issues
While national politics loom large in Sakakihara’s narrative, his campaign platform focuses heavily on issues facing the East Bay and Silicon Valley communities within the 10th District.
He points to three core priorities: expanding the housing supply to address California’s affordability crisis, accelerating climate action, and pushing back against federal policies he believes threaten immigrant communities and civil rights.
Sakakihara also frames his candidacy as grounded in local experience. A longtime Union City resident, he argues his ties to the district run deeper than many candidates who pass through regional politics. “I think I’m going to have the strongest, deepest roots to the district.”
For Sakakihara, the race is both a political opportunity and a personal test. “I’m very excited to do some big things,” he said. “And I’m hoping voters judge me on my record and my platform.”
But he also says he has made peace with the uncertainty of electoral politics. “If they don’t and I lose,” he said, “I’m at peace with that, too.”
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10TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT
—WIDE OPEN FIELD—Scott Sakakihara’s connection to Palantir could become a defining issue in the SD10 primary.
—If his self-funded campaign is deployed effectively, it could also draw a wave of negative mailers—likely not from his direct opponents, but from independent expenditure committees.
—Before that happens, Sakakihara faces a more immediate challenge: introducing himself to voters across nearly the entire State Senate district, which stretches from Hayward to Sunnyvale and North San Jose.
—Outside of Union City, where he serves on the city council, Sakakihara is not widely known, meaning a significant portion of his campaign resources will need to go toward building name recognition.
—Among the expected six candidates—though the field has not been finalized—Sakakihara and Fremont Councilmember Raymond Liu are the only contenders from Alameda County, which makes up more than half of the district’s voters.
—That should be an advantage. It’s not secret that Alameda County Democrats want to keep the senate seat on their side of the ledger.
—But Santa Clara County candidates, such as San Jose Councilmember David Cohen and West Valley-Mission Community College Trustee Anne Kepner may have access to large pots of campaign funds. Kepner has already seeded her early campaign with $90,000 in personal funds.
—At the end of the day, few races on the June ballot are as evenly matched—or as unpredictable—as this primary for a state Senate seat.
10th District (Hayward-Fremont-Sunnyvale)
David Cohen-D, San Jose council member
Anne Kepner-D, West Valley-Mission Community College trustee
Raymond Liu-D, Fremont councilmember
Carmen Montano-D, Milpitas mayor
Linda Price-R
Scott Sakakihara-D Union City councilmember, Navy officer
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
—💰MONEYBALL—Form 497 large campaign contributions filed on March 13-15:
ALAMEDA COUNTY
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
—Friends of Ursula Jones Dickson for District Attorney 2026, Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 104 Political Committee, $5,000. TOTAL: $5,000.
—Gopal Krishan for District Attorney 2026, Nandan Jhaveri of San Jose, $1,000; Rajesh Devidasani of San Ramon, $1,000; Yogesh Virmani of Sunnyvale, $1,000. TOTAL: $3,000.
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE
—Cabral Bonner Alameda County for Judge 2026, Bahar Mallah of Chicago, Ill., $1,000. TOTAL: $1,000.
STATE LEGISLATURE
STATE SENATE
—Fighting for Working Families, Tim Grayson Ballot Measure Committee, IBEW Local Union 302 PAC Small Contributor Committee, $10,000; California State Association of Electrical Workers PAC Small Contributor Committee, $7,500; California State Pipe Trades Council PAC. TOTAL: $25,000.
STATE ASSEMBLY
—Buffy Wicks for Assembly 2026, Zurich American Insurance Company, $3,000; California State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police PAC, $3,000; TOTAL: $6,000.
—Mia Bonta for Assembly 2026, United Domestic Workers of America Action Fund, $5,900. TOTAL: $5,900.
—Rebecca Bauer-Kahan for Assembly 2026, California Building Industry Association PAC, $2,500. TOTAL: $2,500.
—Alex Lee for State Assembly 2026, SEIU Local 2015 State PAC Small Contributor Committee, $11,800, SEIU Local 521 Candidate PAC Small Contributor Committee, $2,600. TOTAL: $14,400.
CLARIFICATION: The number of applicants for San Leandro’s District 2 city council seat is seven, not six. Not mentioned in Friday’s newsletter is applicant Luis Mendoza, a member of the San Leandro Planning and Board of Zoning Adjustments Commission.
