Steyer stops in Fresno, makes case against Trump
FRESNO — Despite having arrived later than most to the 2020 presidential race, billionaire Tom Steyer on Monday said he’s gaining ground, as he opened a new office in Fresno.
The 62-year-old candidate — one of 15 candidates seeking the Democratic nomination — planned a kickoff gathering at his Bullard Avenue office after touring a local pipefitters training facility.
Steyer is an outspoken opponent of President Donald Trump, having started the Need to Impeach campaign in October 2017. The petition has gathered more than 8 million signatures, which Steyer called “a huge reason” why Congress carried out the impeachment.
“He is the most corrupt president in American history. My goal in this always is to get American people to have their voices heard,” Steyer said in an interview with The Fresno Bee. “I felt all along that the only thing that was going to make Washington do the right thing was if the American people raised our voice.”
After making more than $1 billion as the founder of Farallon Capital, Steyer left the investment firm in 2012.
Steyer says he’s been involved in grassroots efforts related to school lunches and providing access to banking in underprivileged areas like Fresno.
His political action committee Nextgen America contributed $230 million to Democrats in the 2014, 2016 and 2018 campaign cycles. He announced his run for office in July, pledging to spend $100 million of his own money on the campaign.
Steyer qualified for the Democratic debate earlier this month, though he’s polling in the single digits. He was polling this month nationally at 2 percent, according to Morning Consult, and 9% in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
“I’m late to this game and I’ve gone up every week. And I’ve gone up since then, so we’ll see,” he said. “I look at this and I think it’s a wideopen race. Probably twothirds of primary voters haven’t made up their mind.”
Steyer says he knows the San Joaquin Valley.
A native of New York, Steyer is now based in San Francisco. A bank and nonprofit called Beneficial State Bank that he started with his wife, Kat Taylor, in Oakland has since established locations in Fresno, Visalia and Porterville.