Tom Steyer won’t run for president in 2020
Billionaire activist will continue his campaign to impeach President Trump
San Francisco Democratic megadonor Tom Steyer won’t run for president in 2020 and will instead invest $40 million more in his campaign to impeach President Trump, his political organization said Wednesday.
The billionaire environmental activist and former hedge fund chief, who had mulled a presidential bid and went as far in recent weeks as conducting polling and choosing campaign staff, announced his decision at an anti-climactic speech in Des Moines, shortly after the New York Times reported his plans.
“Most people come to Iowa around this time to announce a campaign for president,” Steyer said. “But I am proud to be here to announce that I will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to remove a president.”
Steyer has already invested millions of dollars over the last year and a half in his ad campaign calling for impeachment, making the case in slickly produced commercials that usually featured him talking into the camera. He also was one of the party’s top donors during the 2018 midterms, backing Congressional candidates and funding voter outreach efforts that helped Democrats retake the House.
More recently, he’s visited other early primary states to campaign
against Trump’s policies. His political organization also posted job listings for “state directors.”
His organization said Steyer will continue airing national TV ads in 2019 and also target organizing efforts in the districts of House Democratic committee chairs, including Southern California Reps. Maxine Waters and Adam Schiff. He’ll also hold an “impeachment summit” with supporters in D.C. this month.
Steyer barely made a blip in the early polls of the 2020 Democratic primary, which could have a vast field of more than 20 contenders. But his considerable fortune — with a net worth pegged by Forbes at about $1.6 billion — would
have made him an important player if he had decided to invest heavily in his own presidential bid.
Still, a Steyer run may not have appealed to Democratic activists focused on getting big money out of politics. In a clear shot at Steyer and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who’s also considering a bid, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts argued this month that voters should reject “billionaires” funding their own campaigns. And the qualifications for the party’s primary debates are expected to include measures of grassroots fundraising.
Steyer’s decision ends only his latest political will-he-or-won’t-he act: he previously mulled bids for U.S. Senate and California governor in 2016 and 2018 before deciding not to run for either.
Other potential California contenders for the White House include Sen. Kamala Harris, who’s embarking a national book tour this week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and East Bay congressman Eric Swalwell.
Sue Caro, a California Republican Party vicechair in Oakland, said Steyer spending big on an impeachment campaign amounted to a waste of his money. “As long as the Republicans are in charge of the Senate, it’s not going to happen,” Caro said.
But she acknowledged that Steyer’s millions had been effective in boosting Democrats during 2018 congressional races, when “he really creamed us in Orange County.”
“I wish he could decide to go retire on some island,” she said.