Ascendant DC think tank Searchlight Institute, pushing Democrats to the center, has ties to megadonor Simone Coxe, whose Nvidia-linked money could boost AI-backed efforts to defend data center build-outs and limit AI regulation.
The previously undisclosed board of an ascendant DC think tank pushing Democrats to the center includes a Democratic Party megadonor with a stake in artificial intelligence chip designer Nvidia, which could benefit from the organization’s efforts to defend data center build-outs and limit AI regulation.
The Lever exclusively reports that philanthropist Simone Coxe — whose multibillion-dollar fortune largely comes from her venture capitalist husband’s investments in Nvidia — sits on the board of the Searchlight Institute, a new center-left DC think tank. Nvidia is heavily invested in data center expansion.
Coxe, also the cofounder of and director at California news organization CalMatters and a prolific Democratic donor, is listed as a director of the Searchlight Institute in the organization’s DC incorporation documents. The think tank has not disclosed its association with Coxe or her husband, Tench Coxe.
Searchlight’s board of directors has not been previously reported. It includes other rich and powerful investors with a stake in the AI build-out, such as billionaire hedge fund manager Stephen Mandel. Mandel’s investment firm Lone Pine Capital is heavily invested in the Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the largest manufacturer of chips designed by Nvidia.
Moderation and Megadonors
The Searchlight Institute, a project of several longtime Democratic political operatives, launched last fall. The group pitched itself as the leader of a new realignment in the Democratic Party, emphasizing “moderation” over progressivism, which Searchlight claims lost the party in the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections.
In January, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) escalated its assault in Minneapolis and across the United States, Searchlight disseminated a memo urging Democrats not to say “abolish ICE.” The group has also voiced opposition to expansive housing reform legislation that passed the Senate last month with Democratic support, parroting real estate industry talking points about the impact of a provision aimed at limiting Wall Street ownership of homes. That legislation is now in limbo amid growing hesitation among some House Democrats.
Recently, Searchlight has been putting out white papers on data center policy, part of the group’s research focus on artificial intelligence. The think tank has vocally opposed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) proposed data center moratorium legislation — which would pause data center construction until national AI safety standards are in place — in favor of lighter-touch regulation.
Yet as the think tank increasingly seeks to influence the Democratic Party’s agenda on AI and data centers, it has kept its benefactors’ interest in the industry quiet. Whether Simone and Tench Coxe have provided any financial support to the think tank is not clear, but Mandel, another of the institute’s directors, is known to be a major donor.
The Coxes — who are known as a “new megadonor couple” — have also donated nearly $300,000 to PACs associated with Majority Democrats, a political effort that shares several operatives with Searchlight, including Democratic adviser and venture capitalist Seth London.
Remaining board members include Adam Jentleson, the think tank’s founder and former chief of staff to progressive-turned-centrist Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA); Sonal Shah, CEO of the Texas Tribune; and Peter Knight, who appears to be a former Washington lobbyist and political operative turned venture capitalist. Knight was caught up in a campaign finance scandal on the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign.
The Searchlight Institute, Simone Coxe, and Peter Knight did not respond to the Lever’s requests for comment.
This article was first published by the Lever, an award-winning independent investigative newsroom.