Palantir, the data giant and top government contractor, is quickly becoming one of the left’s most hated companies. The Palantir skepticism is keenly felt in competitive Democratic primaries, where any ties to the corporation are quickly turned into political attacks.
Palantir’s work with ICE — at a time when many Democrats and immigration rights groups are demanding the agency be abolished — has made the tech company especially toxic. Progressives also criticize Palantir for working with the Israeli government. Palantir technology is allegedly being used in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
Here’s how the Palantir controversy is playing out in Democratic primaries across the country.
Texas: Former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) is slamming his primary opponent, Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas), for her history of owning Palantir stock. An Allred attack ad accuses Johnson of “making thousands from the company ICE uses to track and detain our neighbors.”
Johnson has strongly pushed back while downplaying her Palantir holdings.
“With Palintir specifically, it was less than $8,000, and I made $90 on the whole thing,” Johnson said. “I consistently voted against Palantir’s interest in Homeland Security [Committee], time, time and time again.”
New York: Palantir is playing big in two New York City House primaries. In New York’s 12th District, Democrat Alex Bores is battling attacks over his former employment at Palantir from 2014 to 2019. Bores says he never worked on any ICE contracts.
This hasn’t stopped attack ads that claim “ICE is powered by Bores’ tech” and that Bores was “powering their deportations.”
In New York’s 10th District, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) is facing a left-wing challenge from Brad Lander. But Goldman is attacking Lander on the Palantir front, arguing that while Lander was city comptroller, New York pension funds increased their investments in Palantir.
Lander’s team replied that he had a fiduciary responsibility to invest apolitically while comptroller. Lander has vowed to stop Palantir from aiding the White House’s immigration policy if elected to Congress.
Illinois: In Illinois’ Democratic Senate primary, Chicago Sun-Times reporting exposed that Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) had accepted $29,300 in donations from a Palantir executive. In response, Krishnamoorthi donated the total amount he received from the Palantir executive to immigrant rights groups.
In a statement, a Palantir spokesperson said the company will continue to carry out its mission to “strengthen national security, improve public health, support law enforcement and help re-industrialize the American economy — those priorities are bigger than politics.”
