LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Activist and investor Tom Steyer announced Wednesday that he is joining the race to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose tenure in Sacramento is ending due to term limits.
In a YouTube video announcing his candidacy, Steyer, who founded the investment firm Farallon Capital in 1986 after spending time working at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in the late 1970s and early 1980s, said Californians deserve a life they can afford.
Steyer, 68, began an effort to impeach President Donald Trump in October 2017 with a multi-million dollar television and digital advertising campaign. He has also argued the need for a “real” billionaire to take on Trump.
“We need to get back to basics and that means making corporations pay their fair share again,” Steyer says in the video announcing his candidacy. “Caliifornians deserve a top-ten education state; they deserve to be able to afford to live in a decent house.”
He entered the 2020 presidential race on the Democrat ticket, but dropped out following the South Carolina primary after failing to gain electoral momentum.
In 2012, he chose to leave Farallon Capital to focus on activism and fundraising efforts related to climate change and alternative energy sources.
After supporting and fundraising for former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Steyer founded NextGen America in 2013, a political action committee focused on climate change and environmentalism.
NextGen America has also fundraised and contributed to Democratic campaigns and politicians around the nation, awarded grants to national organizations offering immigration law services and registered young people to vote around the nation.
Steyer, who is reported by Forbes to be worth about $2 billion, said he would launch “the largest drive to build homes that you can afford in the history of California.”
He also proposes “breaking up the monopolistic power of the utilities” to control energy prices.
Steyer joins a well-populated field of candidates to be the Golden State’s next governor.
On the Republican side is Steve Hilton, Leo Zacky and Chad Bianco head the field, while Betty Yee, Antonio Villaraigosa, Tony Thurmond, Katie Porter, Stephen Cloobeck, Xavier Becerra and Ian Calderon are the Democrats vying for the governor’s job, where Democrats dominate the state house.
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