He was defeated in the Democratic primary by California State Treasurer Phil Angelides by 4%, who later lost to Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the November 2006 elections.

The Westly Group has had nine portfolio companies go public including four multi-billion dollar exits at Tesla Motors, Procore, Luminar, and Sentinel One.

Later that year, after Ryan's death on foreign soil at the hands of the Peoples Temple cult, he worked in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Solar and Conservation under President Jimmy Carter until 1980.

After working in the Carter Administration, he joined the California Public Utilities Commission as Special Assistant to CPUC President John Bryson.

In 1991, Westly became the Deputy Director of the City of San Jose Office of Economic Development and began teaching at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he taught for five years from 1991 to 1995.

In February 2007, Westly joined the board of Tesla Motors, a pioneering northern California manufacturer of electric cars.

He is now a Managing Partner and founder of The Westly Group, one of the larger venture funds in the US focusing on smart energy, mobility, and buildings.

Despite that loss, Westly continued his activism within the party by being elected to the Democratic National Committee in 1988, as the highest vote getter, and was reelected in 1992, 1996, and 2000.

Westly is also in favor of enforcing current laws requiring Californians to pay sales tax on Internet purchases.

Despite entering the race long after his primary opponent, California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, Westly's campaign picked up considerable momentum, receiving endorsements from such figures as Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, Congressmembers Grace Napolitano, Diane Watson, and Brad Sherman, State Senators Carole Migden, Martha Escutia, and Nell Soto, County Supervisor Yvonne Burke, Assembly Members Judy Chu, Ted Lieu, Rudy Bermudez, and Nicole Parra, former Assembly Speaker and current Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson, the majority of the Los Angeles City Council, and other elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels.

The race turned negative, highlighting environmental controversies surrounding Angelides' background as a real estate developer and Westly's broken pledge to keep his campaign clean.

Westly's candidacy also was hurt by an unprecedented multi-million dollar independent expenditure by Sacramento real estate developer and longtime Angelides patron Angelo Tsakopoulos.

[8] The high number of undecided voters led to the lowest turnout in a California primary election in over half a century.

[10] After the election of President Barack Obama in November 2008, it was rumored that Westly was being considered for appointment as Secretary of Energy, though Dr. Steven Chu was ultimately named to that position.

Former Governor Jerry Brown won the Democratic nomination and defeated Republican Meg Whitman (also a former eBay executive) in November 2010.

Mr. Westly is also a frequent guest on CNBC and other business outlets discussing Tesla Motors and the future of Electric and Autonomous Vehicles.