Tom Steyer launches 2020 campaign
WASHINGTON
Tom Steyer, the billionaire investor and activist, said Tuesday he’s joining the race for the Democratic presidential nomination after changing his mind.
Steyer, 62, is one of the most visible and deep-pocketed liberals advocating for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. He surprised many Democrats in January when he traveled to Iowa, home to the nation’s first presidential caucus, to declare that he would focus entirely on the impeachment effort instead of seeking the White House.
Since then, Steyer, of California, has said he has grown frustrated at the pace at which the Democraticcontrolled House is approaching Trump. Roughly half of the Democratic presidential contenders, seeking to appeal to the party’s progressive base, have called on House Democrats to start an impeachment inquiry. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has resisted, warning that Democrats need to collect the facts and that a rush to impeachment could help Trump politically.
Despite becoming a national voice on the impeachment issue, Steyer made no mention of it in his campaign announcement. Instead, he said his campaign will focus on reducing the influence of corporations in politics. He also plans to target climate change, which is the focus of the Steyer-backed advocacy group NextGen America.
“The other Democratic candidates for President have many great ideas that will absolutely move our country forward, but we won’t be able to get any of those done until we end the hostile corporate takeover of our democracy,” Steyer said in a statement.
Citing issues, including climate change and the opioid crisis, Steyer said that in nearly every “major intractable problem, at the back of it, you see a big money interest for whom stopping progress, stopping justice is really important to their bottom line.”
“Americans are deeply disappointed and hurt by the way they’re treated by what they see as the power elite in Washington, D.C., and that goes across party lines and it goes across democracy,” Steyer said in a video that his campaign released Tuesday. “We’ve got to take the corporate control out of our politics.”
Steyer confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that he would spend at least $100 million on his campaign, a figure that was first reported by The New York Times.
Steyer joins the race three weeks before the next presidential debates , and he could struggle to get a spot on the stage. He told the AP that he does not expect to qualify for the second round of Democratic presidential debates, which will be held July 30-31 in Detroit.
“We’re serious about making the debates in September and October, but I think we’re too late to make the July one,” he said.
There are 20 spots at the debate for a field that includes two dozen candidates . If more than 20 people qualify, the Democratic National Committee will hold a tiebreaker to determine who gets on stage.