Tom Steyer, co-chairman of Galvanize Climate Solutions, speaks at the Aspen Ideas: Climate conference on Monday, March 6, 2023 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.
Eva Marie Uzcategui | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Billionaire businessman and activist Tom Steyer, who previously ran unsuccessfully for the White House and spent his own money advocating for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, is running as a Democrat for governor of California.
The 68-year-old’s vast wealth immediately makes him a high-profile candidate in June’s all-party primary, which will feature six Democrats and two Republicans, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the November general election to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Mr. Steyer announced his candidacy pledging to improve economic conditions and positioning his political career as one that is pro-consumer, working-class voters and the environment.
“Californians deserve a life they can afford,” he said in a video released Wednesday morning. “But the Californians who run this state are struggling with the cost of living.”
This approach puts Steyer in conflict with other candidates, including progressive Congresswoman Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Porter was once considered the front-runner, but the race is now seen as wide open. Mr. Steyer’s wealth could give him an advantage in reaching voters through television and digital advertising in a vast state with nearly 40 million people and multiple media markets.
Steyer nods to his wealth Wednesday, noting that his businesses have generated “billions of dollars.” But he also had a populist tone.
“The richest people in America think they earned everything themselves,” he said, before dismissing that idea with a tirade against cow waste. “That’s so ridiculous.”
“We’re going to make corporations pay their fair share again,” Steyer said, and his campaign cited his previous work on get-out-the-vote efforts with similar goals. Mr. Steyer was a leading proponent of a 2012 ballot initiative that made it harder for companies to avoid certain taxes. The new revenue was earmarked for energy improvements in the state’s public schools.
Among other referendum efforts, Mr. Steyer helped lead the 2016 campaign that resulted in a $2 per pack tax increase on tobacco products. The funds were directed to state health programs, including tobacco prevention efforts. And Mr. Steyer was the chief opponent of a 2010 ballot initiative that would have repealed California’s Clean Air and Climate Change Act, which has been considered the national standard for climate change policy.
Steyer spent millions of his own money touring the country and pushing for Trump’s impeachment during the Republican president’s first term. He then ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, but spent more than $200 million of his fortune and failed to win the promised delegates. After narrowly finishing in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, Mr. Steyer doubled down with a big push in South Carolina, but ended up finishing in third place, well behind his eventual nominees, President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Mr. Steyer then ended his bid for president and financially supported Mr. Biden’s 2024 re-election bid before the Democratic Party caved in favor of then-Vice President Kamala Harris, also from California.
Mr. Steyer’s latest campaign comes as some Democrats are questioning his candidacy after a combative exchange between Mr. Porter and a television journalist in October went viral. He, along with Harris, has long been mentioned as a possible heavyweight contender to join the field.
Harris, who is touring the country to promote her 2024 campaign memoir, has consistently said she has no plans to run and has suggested her future campaign would be for president.
Asked about participating in the gubernatorial race, she told The Associated Press on Oct. 17, “I’m going to vote.” Asked if she was happy with the field, with Porter facing the most intense criticism, Harris said only that she wanted the Democratic Party to have “the best and brightest people running and winning,” and that she was “not actively involved.”
