Left-wing billionaire mega-donor Tom Steyer, whose “Need to Impeach” organization has advocated for President Donald Trump’s immediate removal from office, will be testing the presidential waters himself with upcoming visits to key primary states.
CNBC reported Wednesday:
Billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer is planning to visit the early presidential caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada as he considers running for president in 2020, CNBC has learned.
Steyer is among a large list of potential candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination in 2020. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren threw her hat into the ring when she announced an exploratory committee on Monday. She is set to visit Iowa this weekend. Other possible candidates are expected to announce their plans over the next few weeks.
Steyer owes a significant portion of his fortune to his investments in fossil fuels, but claimed in 2014 that he had experienced a political conversion during a hike in the Adirondacks with environmentalist Bill McKibben in 2012.
He made climate change his signature issue and became the top single donor to the Democratic cause in the 2014 election cycle, one in which the party experienced significant setbacks, including the unexpected loss of the Senate. His money did, however, purchase a political stunt on the floor of the Senate, where Democrats held an all-night session to advocate for action on climate change.
After the 2016 election, Steyer bankrolled a massive campaign to encourage Democrats to impeach the president — which had the added advantage of collecting email addresses for Steyer’s future endeavors. Steyer was estimated to have spent over $100 million, with 1000 staff and 2000 volunteers who pushed for impeachment nationwide — and encouraged left-wing millennials to register to vote.
He turned down opportunities to run for U.S. Senate or governor in California, but has long been thought to be looking more seriously at a presidential run — following Trump’s example, ironically, of the billionaire outsider.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.