In a political party seemingly fixated on issues of gender, race, and income inequality, a white, male billionaire would seem an odd participant in the race for president.
In steps Tom Steyer, hedge fund billionaire. Not exactly the prototypical diversity candidate of progressives’ dreams.
Yesterday, Steyer jumped into the Democratic primary. Steyer is a major Democrat donor, climate change fanatic, and the leader of a non-profit dedicated to impeaching President Donald Trump for wrongs the Mueller report found no evidence for. Tristan Justice explains Steyer’s run at The Federalist:
Steyer’s platform centers on tackling climate change and reducing corporate influence in American politics. The Californian has been a major Democratic donor in recent years and has been one of the leading voices calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, though his announcement video barely mentioned Trump.
In January, the 62-year-old businessman and philanthropist ended speculation of a possible run for president announcing that he would instead focus his efforts on applying pressure to Congress to impeach Trump. In 2017, Steyer earned national media attention when he started and ran a nonprofit with the sole purpose to advocate for the president’s impeachment, called “Need to Impeach.”
Since his decision not to run, Steyer spent an additional $10 million on television ads arguing for Trump’s impeachment. Before January, Steyer had already spent millions on the effort, sending anti-Trump books to members of Congress and running ads to pressure members to pursue articles of impeachment.
Read more here.