Unsuccessful 2020 presidential candidate, Democrat mega donor and climate activist Tom Steyer joined California’s 2026 gubernatorial race on Wednesday.
Steyer centered his campaign launch around affordability, promising to lower housing prices and electricity rates for Californians as governor. The billionaire and liberal activist co-founded green investing firm Galvanize Climate Solutions, which champions “energy transition.”
“The richest people in America think that they earned everything themselves. That’s bull****, man,” Steyer said in his campaign video. “I’m Tom Steyer. I wanted to build a business here. Now, it’s worth billions of dollars. And I walked away from it because I wanted to give back to California.”
Current Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is term-limited and thus cannot run for reelection in 2026. Steyer faces a lot of competition, including former Democratic California Rep. Katie Porter and Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Fox News host Steve Hilton, among many others.
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Steyer argues he will lower electricity costs by breaking utility company monopolies, though some energy policy experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that California’s high costs are due to its aggressive green energy policies. Steyer’s campaign materials also note that he took on “big oil” for the sake of the climate.
California has the highest gasoline tax in the nation, and its cap-and-trade program for emissions has also been linked to high energy prices in the state. Golden State ratepayers are on the hook for some of the highest utility costs in America.
Steyer notes in his campaign materials that as governor he would make corporations pay their “fair share” and use the money to improve California public schools. Steyer’s campaign materials also state that he would ban “corporate PAC money from California elections.”
“Tom Steyer is running for Governor of California because Californians can no longer afford to live here,” his campaign website reads. “This state doesn’t work when a few people do unbelievably well, and everyone else does poorly – no matter how many billion-dollar companies we have, or how many new technologies we invent.”
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