The Tech Underdogs Trying to Elect Harris and Outfox Musk

First thing each weekday, Jessica Alter hits the road and runs three miles through the Marina District near her San Francisco home. On Saturdays, she swaps Golden Gate Bridge views for countryside scenes with longer trail runs close to her second home in Sonoma County. In both instances, the exercise inspires some of Alter’s best ideas as the board chair of Tech for Campaigns—one of the most consequential liberal PACs involved in the presidential election—but it also serves another vital purpose: stress relief.

“It’s, like, my alone, deep-thinking time,” Alter said one morning this week, sipping a humongous iced coffee at a Peet’s in San Francisco. “It helps me center myself and stay grounded.”

As America hurtles toward Election Day next month, everyone working in politics is feeling the pressure—particularly Alter and the San Francisco–based Tech for Campaigns, which has been collecting funds from some of the most prominent tech Democrats since Alter co-founded the organization in 2017.