A guy running for mayor on an anti-corporate socialist platform owns thousands in Amazon and Tesla stock.
Alexander Kraft, who wants to lead the Southern California city of El Cajon, filed his California Form 700 financial disclosure on August 6th, and the numbers tell quite a story. As reported here, his Amazon holdings are valued somewhere between $10,001 and $100,000, while his Tesla position sits between $2,000 and $10,000. Both represent ownership stakes below 10%.
Now here is where it gets absolutely delicious. Kraft's own campaign website literally carries the tagline "El Cajon for the people over corporate profits." He promises to "end the corporate property takeover of El Cajon housing." His whole brand is built around working-class solidarity, labor organizing, and fighting the big guys. Meanwhile, he is quietly collecting gains from two of the largest corporations on planet Earth.
Former Republican candidate Amy Reichert blew the lid off the whole thing on August 17th with a post on X. She shared a photo of Kraft at a rally clutching a sign for the "Party for Socialism and Liberation" alongside the now viral line, "Socialism for thee, but not for me." The internet, predictably, had a field day.
Kraft is a member of the Peace and Freedom Party and has received the enthusiastic backing of the Democratic Socialists of America's San Diego chapter, which is organizing door knocking events to get him elected. His campaign bills him as a former teacher and labor organizer who battled employers "from the shop floor to the bargaining room." He brags about never taking corporate or superPAC money, saying only working-class donors fund his operation.
But apparently working-class principles stop at the brokerage account.
He is squaring off against incumbent Mayor Bill Wells, a conservative Republican, in what is the only matchup on the November 3rd ballot. Wells is focused on keeping the city budget balanced, supporting local businesses, and bolstering public safety. Kraft's agenda includes establishing a city minimum wage, requiring union wages on municipal projects, investing in social housing, restricting police cooperation with ICE, and auditing the police department's budget.
The contrast between these two could not be sharper, and Kraft's stock portfolio makes it even more entertaining.
As of now, Kraft has not offered a single word explaining how his personal investment choices square with his political crusade against corporate power. His platform still proudly describes the Peace and Freedom Party as an organization dedicated to "socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism, and racial equality." His campaign says it aims to construct "a mass socialist movement" in El Cajon.
Building a socialist movement while your retirement fund rides on Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. You truly cannot make this stuff up. Politics remains the greatest comedy show on television, except nobody is laughing harder than the corporations Kraft claims to oppose.
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