Ms. Haugen, in our phone interview, also resolved a minor mystery: whether she’s quietly relying on the financial support of Pierre Omidyar, the eBay co-founder whose groups started working with her in October, as Politico first reported.

The reality, she said, is that she has her own financial resources, and has accepted help from nonprofit groups backed by Mr. Omidyar only for travel and similar expenses.

“For the foreseeable future, I’m fine, because I did buy crypto at the right time,” she told me.