Thomas Steyer

Tom Steyer
Basic facts
Organization:	NextGen Climate
Role:	President
Location:	San Francisco
Affiliation:	Democratic Party
Education:	• Yale University (B.A., economics and political science, 1979) • Stanford Graduate School of Business (M.B.A., 1983)
Website:	Official website

Tom Steyer is an investor, activist, philanthropist, and donor to progressive and Democratic Party causes. He retired from Farallon Capital Management, the asset management company he founded, in 2012 to focus on politics and issue advocacy.

Steyer announced that he was running for president of the United States on July 9, 2019. He suspended his presidential campaign on February 29, 2020.

In 2013, Steyer founded NextGen Climate, which was rebranded as NextGen America in July 2017. Steyer spent more money on the 2014 and 2016 elections than any other individual donor.

Prior to founding NextGen, Steyer founded the hedge fund Farallon Capital Management and managed it until 2012.

Biography

Steyer was born in 1957 and grew up in New York City. He studied economics and political science at Yale University, graduating summa cum laude. After college, he worked on mergers and acquisitions for the investment bank Morgan Stanley. He went back to school to earn an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

After graduate school, Steyer worked for the New York investment bank Goldman Sachs and moved to San Francisco in 1986 to join the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman. He then started his own hedge fund, Farallon Capital Management, which he managed until 2012, when he retired to focus on political advocacy and philanthropy.

In 2013, Steyer founded NextGen Climate. According to its website, NextGen Climate was formed "to prevent climate disaster and promote prosperity for all Americans." Steyer rebranded NextGen Climate as NextGen America in July 2017 to reflect a broader focus on opposition to President Donald Trump and support for a range of progressive policies. "This is a fight for the soul of American democracy and we have expanded our mission to meet the challenge at hand," he said.

According to Investor's Business Daily, Steyer spent more money on the 2014 and 2016 elections—$73 million and approximately $100 million, respectively—than any other individual donor. In May 2016, Forbes listed Steyer at number 387 on its list of the 400 wealthiest people in the United States. He spent $74 million during the 2018 elections.

Elections

2020

Presidency

See also: Presidential candidates, 2020

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) won the presidential election on November 3, 2020. Biden received 306 electoral votes and President Donald Trump (R) received 232 electoral votes. In the national popular vote, Biden received 81.2 million votes and Trump received 74.2 million votes.

Steyer announced that he was running for president on July 9, 2019. He suspended his presidential campaign on February 29, 2020.

Ballotpedia compiled the following resources about Steyer and the 2020 presidential election:

• News stories about the 2020 presidential election;
• An overview of key national and state campaign staffers;
• Endorsements from politicians, public figures, and organizations;
• An overview of candidate campaign travel; and
• A list of other presidential candidates running for election.

Click here for Steyer's 2020 presidential campaign overview.

Political activity

Organizations

The four primary political organizations with which Tom Steyer has been involved are NextGen America, For Our Future super PAC, the Risky Business Project, and the Democracy Alliance. Steyer founded or was a founding member of NextGen America, For Our Future, and Risky Business. He is a member of the Democracy Alliance.

NextGen America

Steyer founded NextGen America as the environmental advocacy organization NextGen Climate after leaving Farallon Capital in 2012. According to its website, NextGen Climate aimed to work at every level of government and was "committed to supporting candidates, elected officials, and policymakers across the country that will take bold action on climate change." NextGen Climate was a group of organizations that included nonprofit organizations and super PACs. According to Wired, it spent $170 million between 2013 and 2017 supporting candidates and policies that aimed to address climate change.

According to Scientific American, one of NextGen Climate's goals was for the United States to develop enough clean energy sources to provide half of the country's energy by 2030. Asked about the prospects of achieving this goal, Steyer said, "This is not happening without the United States government determining that it has to happen. This is a societywide [and] an urgent priority. And if we intend to solve it, it's with societywide, urgent activity, you know, government-led. Otherwise, we're not going to succeed."

During the 2016 election cycle, NextGen Climate expanded its work to include voter registration on college campuses. According to Steyer, the organization registered 1 million voters and pursued outreach efforts on 370 college campuses.

On January 21, 2017, Steyer released a video asking members of the public to provide input on the shifting mission of NextGen Climate. Steyer argued that the expansion of the organization's work was consistent with its overall efforts. "Our mission statement has always included promoting prosperity," Steyer said. "We’ve always felt that to separate climate — and to not put it in the context of American jobs, American wages, and American health — was a mistake." In June 2017, Steyer announced that he would invest $7.5 million in youth registration and turnout through NextGen Climate for the 2018 congressional midterm elections.

Steyer officially rebranded NextGen Climate as NextGen America in July 2017. On January 8, 2018, he announced that he would invest at least $30 million in NextGen Rising, NextGen America's millennial voter turnout initiative, in 2018.

Fredreka Schouten and Christopher Schnaars of USA Today reported on February 23, 2018, that Steyer had given $15.7 to his super PAC, NextGen Climate Action Committee, between January 2017 and February 2018. According to their analysis, that made him the second-largest overall super PAC donor and the top Democratic super PAC donor for the cycle to date.

On March 28, 2018, Steyer announced that NextGen America would host 15 debates in selected Democratic primary elections for seats in the U.S. Congress and gubernatorial offices. The initial three debates were announced for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, Pennsylvania's 5th Congressional District, and California's 39th Congressional District.

On October 11, 2018, Steyer announced that NextGen America would commit $4 million on a digital ad campaign aimed at young voters in 11 selected states. The campaign was intended to reach over 4 million young voters and was the first political campaign to advertise on video game streaming platform Twitch.

For Our Future

On May 11, 2016, Politico reported that Steyer's NextGen Climate had partnered with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and three public employee unions—the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association—to form the super PAC For Our Future. All of the organizations involved endorsed Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential bid.

In December 2016, For Our Future faced criticism over Steyer's opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline from eight unions in the building/construction trades. Also in December 2016, the PAC raised $60 million to mobilize black, Latino, and millennial voters in the battleground states of Florida, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The PAC focused on grassroots organizing to encourage Democratic voter turnout through face-to-face conversations rather than buying ads.

The Risky Business Project

In 2013, Steyer cofounded the Risky Business project with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a Republican. According to its website, the group examines "the economic risks presented by climate change and opportunities to reduce them." It also recommends that businesses "push governments at all levels to provide policy frameworks that are necessary to achieve the speed and scale required for the transition to a clean energy economy."

The Risky Business project has produced several reports about the economic impacts of climate change around the country. "The Risky Business report confirms what many of us have long suspected: The longer we wait to address the growing risks of climate change, the more it will cost us all," Steyer said about the project's work. "From a business perspective, given the many benefits of early action, it would be silly to allow these risks to accumulate to the point where we can no longer manage them."

Democracy Alliance

See also: Democracy Alliance

Steyer is a member of the Democracy Alliance, a network of activist organizations and wealthy liberal donors that describes itself as dedicated to creating "the infrastructure necessary to advance a progressive agenda for America." Members are required to pay annual dues of $30,000 and donate at least $200,000 a year to Democracy Alliance-approved groups.

Steyer hosted a session at the group's 2014 conference called "Putting Climate Change at the Forefront of American Politics." He also hosted sessions about climate change at one of the group's meetings in 2015.

Need to Impeach

Steyer launched the Need to Impeach campaign in October 2017 to mobilize Americans who supported an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump (R). On July 9, 2019, Steyer announced he was running for president of the United States and would leave his Need to Impeach leadership position as executive director. He also said that he had committed over $50 million through 2020 to both the Need to Impeach and NextGen America campaign.

Ballot measure activity

2020

Voters approved Question 6—an initiative backed by Steyer's group NextGen America to increase renewable portfolio standards—for the second time on November 3, 2020.

2018

Steyer's group NextGen America was involved in the campaigns for three ballot initiatives to increase renewable portfolio standards in three states in 2018. Aleigha Cavalier, a spokesperson for NextGen America, said the group was a partner in coalitions behind the measures. She said, "They are are [sic] being managed by an on-the-ground team and coalition of partners." Initiatives in Arizona and Nevada were designed to require utilities to acquire 50 percent of their electricity from renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind, by 2030. An initiative in Michigan would have required utilities to acquire 30 percent of their electricity from renewable energy resources by 2030.

The Nevada Independent asked Steyer how much he was willing to spend on the initiative campaign in Nevada. He responded, "You never know what’s going to happen. You know, this is one of those things where you set out from the shore in your rowboat and you don’t know if you’re going to have big seas or … smooth sailing. So, I think that you don’t really know what you have to do."

In May 2017, proponents withdrew the initiative in Michigan after two of the state's largest utilities committed to producing 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The initiatives in Nevada and Arizona qualified for the November 2018 ballot. In Arizona, the initiative was rejected. The Nevada initiative was approved, but as an initiated constitutional amendment in Nevada, it needed to be approved by voters again in November 2020. Question 6 was approved on November 3, 2020.

2016

Steyer spent $13.95 million on California ballot measures during the 2016 election cycle, with the majority going to support the statewide tobacco tax increase measure Proposition 56. Proposition 56 passed, increasing the cigarette tax by $2.00 per pack to $2.87 and taxes on other tobacco products and electronic cigarettes by equivalent amounts. In addition to Steyer, the measure was backed by healthcare groups and organized labor.

2014 and earlier

In 2012, Reuters reported that Steyer "all but single-handedly sponsored Proposition 39, spending nearly $29 million." Proposition 39 passed, requiring out-of-state businesses to calculate their California income tax liability based on the percentage of their sales in California, removing their option to choose a tax liability formula that provided favorable tax treatment for businesses with property and payroll outside California, and allowing projected revenues to be used for clean energy projects and jobs. Steyer said of the ballot measure process, "The proposition system is working exactly the way it is supposed to, which is to give a direct democracy vote to the people of California in opposition to organized, rich interests, who are opposing them."

According to the Center for Public Integrity, Steyer gave more than $11.1 million to his two super PACs in 2013—the most of any individual, union, or company that year. Steyer raised $78 million in 2014—more than any other super PAC—for NextGen Climate Action.

A March 2014 report from The New York Times listed Steyer as one of several big-money donors whose political giving overshadowed spending by super PACs.

According to Chris Lehane, a former strategist for Steyer, Steyer's involvement in the highly complex California ballot initiatives process helped serve as an experiment for an expansion into national politics in 2014. "He didn't necessarily go into California ballot initiatives as if they'd be a beta test for what he's doing nationally, but in effect they served as a beta test," Lehane said.

“	If you said to me, how much am I willing to spend to make this ... the most important issue in the minds of Americans, then I would think $100 million bucks would be very low honestly.	”
—Tom Steyer

The following table details Steyer's contributions to ballot measures covered on Ballotpedia:

Ballot measure contributions for Tom Steyer
Ballot measure	Position	Amount	Result
California Presidential Electoral College Reform Initiative (2008)	Opposed	$111,475	Not on Ballot
California Proposition 2, Standards for Confining Farm Animals (2008)	Supported	$25,000	a
California Proposition 23, Suspension of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Law Initiative (2010)	Opposed	$5.49 million	d
California Proposition 26, Supermajority Vote to Pass Certain New Taxes and Fees (2010)	Opposed	$1 million	a
California Proposition 32, Ban on Political Contributions from Payroll Deductions Initiative (2012)	Opposed	$500,000	d
California Proposition 39, Out-of-State Business Tax Liability Calculations and Energy Funding Initiative (2012)	Supported	$29.58 million	a
California Proposition 1, Water Bond (2014)	Supported	$25,000	a
California Proposition 2, Changes to State Budget Stabilization Fund Amendment (2014)	Supported	$25,000	a
California Proposition 45, Required Public Notice for Health Insurance Rate Changes Initiative (2014)	Supported	$200,000	d
California Proposition 55, Extension of the Proposition 30 Income Tax Increase (2016)	Supported	$1.75 million	a
California Proposition 56, Tobacco Tax Initiative (2016)	Supported	$1 million	a
California Proposition 57, Parole for Non-Violent Criminals and Juvenile Court Trial Requirements (2016)	Supported	$1.75 million	a
California Proposition 58, Non-English Languages Allowed in Public Education (2016)	Supported	$1.75 million	a
California Proposition 62, Repeal of the Death Penalty (2016)	Supported	$1.75 million	d
California Proposition 66, Death Penalty Procedures (2016)	Opposed	$1.85 million	a
California Proposition 67, Plastic Bag Ban Veto Referendum (2016)	Supported	$50,000	a

Candidate contributions and voter mobilization

Early giving

Steyer began supporting Democrats in 1990, when he made contributions to U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Ray Thornton (D-Ark.).

Steyer was among the top five donors to Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. He also served as a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

2018

National
On January 8, 2018, Steyer announced that he would commit $30 million to NextGen Rising, a millennial voter mobilization campaign. "We’re going to register voters, then encourage them to participate," he said. "That means we want to talk about issues people care most about. We need to — just go back and look at millennial turnout in 2014, the last midterms. It’s shocking how low it was."

Steyer said that the campaign would focus on 24 Republican-held seats in the U.S. House and select Democratic-held seats but noted that the list of targeted districts could change over time. He identified the campaign's objective as the election of a Democratic majority to the House in the 2018 elections.

The Washington Free Beacon reported in February 2018 that Steyer was also the primary funder of the Latino mobilization political action committee Immigrant Voters Win PAC. According to the Free Beacon, Steyer provided $718,236 of the total $748,000 the PAC reported raising in 2017.

California
Brett Samuels of The Hill reported in March 2018 that Steyer had earmarked $3.5 million of NextGen Rising's $30 million for California. The money was slated to fund more than 80 staffers to target more than 300,000 young voters in the state. "The road to taking back the House runs straight through California," Steyer said in a statement, "and to the Republicans who have failed to represent us, NextGen Rising has a message: young people won't put up with that."

Colorado
On December 20, 2017, Steyer contributed the $400 maximum to each of five 2018 candidates for the Colorado General Assembly: Democratic state House incumbents Jeff Bridges, Tony Exum, and Barbara McLachlan and Democratic state Senate challengers Tammy Story and Faith Winter. The five seats targeted by Steyer also appear on the Target Races list released by Colorado Resistance, a state group that describes its work as "based on a simple premise: one of the most effective ways to resist Donald Trump's agenda is by electing as many progressives as possible to state & local office."

Florida
Following the February 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Steyer cosponsored a $1 million youth voter registration drive with the firearms regulation groups Everytown for Gun Safety and Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence. He said he was supporting the registration drive "so that we don't just hear their [the Florida high school students'] voices and their feelings and their hearts on CNN, but that next November, their votes get counted by every official in America and they understand we either get gun reform now or we get rid of them then."

Brett Samuels of The Hill reported in March 2018 that Steyer had earmarked $3.5 million of NextGen Rising's $30 million for Florida. The money was slated to fund more than 100 staffers to target more than 1.5 million young voters in the state.

On September 25, 2018, The New York Times reported that Tom Steyer's political organizations would spend more than $5 million in support of Gillum. Steyer said that he would spend more money in Florida than any other state in 2018, and added, "He’s called for the impeachment of the president. He’s been willing to talk plainly to Florida voters, and they’ve responded."

Nevada
Steyer announced at a February 2018 press conference in Las Vegas that U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Nevada gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt (R) were among his 2018 targets. "When people like Dean Heller and Adam Laxalt fail to stand up for what's right, they allow Mr. Trump's racism and bigotry and fear-mongering to define them as well," he said. "If you go along with racist behavior, you're complicit."

Pennsylvania
In March 2018, NextGen America invested $50,000 in the March 13 special election in Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District. The funding went to young voter-targeted digital ad and field programs.

Wisconsin
In March 2018, The Capital Times reported that Steyer had earmarked $2.5 million of NextGen Rising's $30 million for Wisconsin. The Times reported that NextGen America had outposts on 14 college campuses in the state and expected to be active on 35 Wisconsin campuses by November.

2017

NextGen Virginia, the state's affiliate of NextGen Rising, worked to mobilize young voters and voters of color in Virginia's 2017 elections for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and House of Delegates. According to a November 2017 press release from NextGen America, the group spent $3.3 million in the state, had 60 staff members on the ground, knocked on 350,000+ doors, sent 300,000+ texts, and registered 20,169 voters.

2016

The Washington Times reported that Steyer spent $87.6 million on the 2016 elections, exceeding the $75.4 million he spent in 2014. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit organization that tracks money in American politics, Steyer was the top individual donor in both election cycles.

In April 2016, The New York Times reported that Steyer and NextGen Climate would spend at least $25 million to mobilize young voters near university campuses in swing states. NextGen Climate also partnered with unions to canvass working-class and minority neighborhoods and locate voters concerned about the effects of global warming.

NextGen Climate invested more than $190,000 on field organizing in Colorado in early 2016. Steyer also spent more than $793,000 on research and polling services in the state in the first half of the year and gave $200 each to four Democratic state legislative candidates who were running in competitive districts: House District 17 candidate Tony Exum, Senate District 19 candidate Rachel Zenzinger, Senate District 25 candidate Jenise May, and Senate District 26 candidate Daniel Kagan. Three of the four candidates he supported—all except May—won their races.

2014

Steyer spent $75.4 million in the November 2014 midterm elections. His stated aim was to back incumbents and newcomers who had a favorable view of climate change legislation. The candidates who received contributions directly from Steyer in 2014 won their races (see table below). According to BuzzFeed News, five of the nine candidates backed by NextGen Climate were also successful.

2013

Steyer gave $275,000 to the Washington Conservation Voters Action Fund through NextGen Climate in 2013, and the organization spent $210,000 on four successful bids for the council in Whatcom County, Washington. The National Review reported that candidates for the seats had spent less than $7,000 on their campaigns in 2009. The outlet also reported that the council would decide whether to approve a proposed coal-export facility and that the candidates backed by the Washington Conservation Voters Action Fund were likely to oppose the facility.

NextGen Climate also supported incumbent Nathan Schlicher (D), who was appointed to the District 26a seat in the Washington State Senate in January 2013, in his unsuccessful special election bid for election to the seat. The Northwest News Network reported that the win by Schlicher challenger Jan Angel (R) was expected to make it more difficult for Gov. Jay Inslee (D) to advance his climate change agenda because it strengthened the GOP's hold on the state Senate.

The following table details Steyer's contributions to political candidates:

Note: Tom Steyer is a donor to various campaigns and causes. The information below is not intended to be a comprehensive listing of his political contributions, but rather to be an overview of the types of individuals that Steyer supports. Additionally, in many cases, donations to various causes are indirect. For example, Steyer may have donated to a foundation that went on to donate to an advocacy group or issue a grant to another organization.

Candidate contributions for Tom Steyer
Year	Candidate	Party	Office	Amount	Election result
2018	Jeff Bridges		Colorado House of Representatives	$400	TBD
2018	Tony Exum		Colorado House of Representatives	$400	TBD
2018	Barbara McLachlan		Colorado House of Representatives	$400	TBD
2018	Tammy Story		Colorado State Senate	$400	TBD
2018	Faith Winter		Colorado State Senate	$400	TBD
2016	Jim Beall		California State Senate	$500,000	a
2016	Tony Exum		Colorado House of Representatives	$200	a
2016	Daniel Kagan		Colorado State Senate	$200	a
2016	Jenise May		Colorado State Senate	$200	d
2016	Rachel Zenzinger		Colorado State Senate	$200	a
2015	Darrell Steinberg		Mayor of Sacramento	$3,300	a
2014	Jerry Brown		Governor of California	$27,200	a
2014	Betty Yee		California Controller	$13,600	a
2013	Ed Markey		U.S. Senate delegation from Massachusetts	$1 million (through CE Action Committee)	a
2013	Terry McAuliffe		Governor of Virginia	$8 million (through NextGen Climate Action)	a
2012	Dianne Feinstein		U.S. Senate delegation from California		a
2012	Barbara Boxer		U.S. Senate delegation from California		Did not run for re-election
2012	Elizabeth Esty		Connecticut's 5th Congressional District		a
2010	Barbara Boxer		U.S. Senate delegation from California		a
2010	Joe Sestak		Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District	$2,400	d
2008	Noreen Evans		California State Assembly	$3,600	a
2008	Barbara Boxer		U.S. Senate delegation from California		a (2010 election)
2007	Kamala Harris		District Attorney	$500.00	a (2010 election)
2006	Dianne Feinstein		U.S. Senate delegation from California		a
2006	Martin O'Malley		Governor of Maryland		a
2004	Joe Lieberman		U.S. Senate delegation from Connecticut	$2,000	a (2006 election)
2000	Dianne Feinstein		U.S. Senate delegation from California		a
2000	John McCain		U.S. Senate delegation from Arizona	$1,000	a (2004 election)
1998	Matt Fong		U.S. Senate delegation from California	$1,000	d
1998	John McCain		U.S. Senate delegation from Arizona	$1,000	a
1992	Dianne Feinstein		U.S. Senate delegation from California	$1,250	a (1994 election)
1990	John Kerry		U.S. Senate delegation from Massachusetts	$1,000	a
1990	Ray Thornton		Arkansas' 2nd Congressional District	$1,000	a

Potential candidacies

On January 8, 2018, Steyer announced that he would not run for political office in 2018. Steyer polled at 3 percent in a Sacramento Bee survey of possible replacements for U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) if she chose not to seek re-election in 2018. A November 2016 Sacramento Bee poll of the California gubernatorial race had Steyer polling at 5 percent.

Steyer was previously named as a potential candidate for California's open U.S. Senate seat in 2016. He announced on January 22, 2015, that he would not run for the seat.

A number of media outlets, including Politico, The Boston Globe, and USA Today, mentioned Steyer as a possible 2020 presidential candidate. Steyer announced on January 9 that he would not seek the presidency in 2020.

Stances

Endorsement of Hillary Clinton

On June 8, 2016, Steyer endorsed former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for president:

“	Hillary Clinton is an experienced leader who will lead us to victory because she embodies the best values of our country. Now is the time to come together to defeat [Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who is utterly unfit to be our next president.	”
—Tom Steyer

Opposition to the Trump administration

See also: Opposition to the Trump administration

In a July 2016 interview with the Sacramento Bee, Steyer criticized Donald Trump for refusing to release his tax returns and accused the Republican presidential nominee of engaging in unethical business practices and lying about the size of his personal fortune. Steyer called Trump a "cheap chiseler and a huckster" and sponsored television and internet advertisements attacking his positions on immigration and claim that global warming is a hoax.

Steyer continued to oppose Trump after he won the 2016 presidential election and took office in January 2017, saying:

“	I promise to do everything in my power to stand up to Trump.	”
—Tom Steyer

“	I see this election as ushering in an administration that is waging on all-out attack on American interests, on the civil liberties of Americans, and on the American people in general. I want to be part of the group of people that stands up and tries to protect our basic rights and put out a more optimistic view of what we can do together. Opposed to this terrible attempt to divide us, prove the world's terrible and only a true authoritarian can save us from ourselves.	”
—Tom Steyer

Steyer has opposed the Trump administration on several fronts.

• Mental health panel: Steyer convened a panel of mental health experts on February 12, 2018, to discuss Trump's mental health. The panel, which was aired on Facebook Live, included a discussion of the Goldwater rule, an ethical dicate against giving a professional opinion about a public figure without personally examining him or her. Panelist John D. Gardner argued that mental health professionals should not be bound by the rule, saying, "When you see the rise of an autocrat, silence is a sin, Goldwater be damned."

• Impeachment house parties: Need to Impeach announced its Party to Impeach initiative on January 22, 2018. The initiative, which was intended to draw attention to the group's Trump impeachment efforts, consisted of impeachment house parties in 500 communities across the country the weekend before Presidents' Day. Steyer attended some of the Philadelphia-area parties.

• Fire and Fury purchase: Steyer told KQED News in January 2018 that he was sending a copy of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, a book about the Trump presidency by Michael Wolff, to each member of Congress. "We believed when we started this impeachment petition on Oct. 20, we felt every subsequent day would bring information that would bolster our argument that this was a dangerous, unfit president who needed to be removed from office," he said, "and from what I can tell, this book makes that case in very bold letters."

• Letter calling for impeachment: On June 9, 2017, the Huffington Post reported that Tom Steyer wrote an open letter calling for Trump's impeachment. One excerpt from the letter read, "The clear and undisputed facts about Mr. Trump's attempt to impede an FBI investigation demand an immediate impeachment inquiry by the House of Representatives." The full text of the letter can be found here.

• Travel ban protest: On January 29, 2017, Steyer participated in protests at San Francisco International Airport as part of a nationwide protest of a January 27 executive order from Trump affecting refugee admissions and immigrant and nonimmigrant travel from seven countries.

• Cabinet nominee ads: Steyer's organization NextGen Climate ran ads in several states opposing Trump's secretary of state nominee, Rex Tillerson, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator nominee, Scott Pruitt. The ads were timed to coincide with the nominees' January and February 2017 Senate confirmation hearings.

• SaveOurEPA.com: After Trump took office, some federal government agencies removed content related to climate change from their websites. NextGen Climate responded by copying content from the EPA's public-facing website and moving it to a new site, SaveOurEPA.com. On January 27, 2017, Steyer said in a series of tweets, "We will not allow Trump and the oil corporations to push us towards an Orwellian world full of official lies and misinformation...Today @NextGenClimate launched SaveOurEPA.com. It's essentially a copy of @EPA's public-facing climate change website...This information belongs to the people."

• Expanding the mission of NextGen Climate In early 2017, Steyer signaled an expansion of the mission of NextGen Climate beyond environmental issues. He released a video on January 31, 2017, asking members of the public to provide input on the shifting mission of the organization—a move one aide to Steyer called "crowdsourcing the resistance."
  
  Steyer explained in the video that his effort to broaden NextGen Climate's impact was largely a response to Trump's presidency. "All of these issues are merging. There is a concerted attack from the administration and their allies against what we think of as basic American rights...It would be a mistake to try to silo issues...The response has to be much broader." Steyer said that, following Trump's election, NextGen Climate cosponsored marches with immigrant rights groups and women's right groups, as well as organizing activities on college campuses.
  
  BuzzFeed News noted in an article about NextGen's evolution that NextGen Climate's mission started expanding during the 2016 election cycle, when the organization registered one million voters and pursued outreach efforts on 370 college campuses. Steyer officially rebranded NextGen Climate as NextGen America in July 2017.

Advertisements calling for impeachment

In October 2017, Steyer launched a $10 million campaign, Need to Impeach, to impeach Trump. In an interview with The Hill, Steyer said, "I’m just trying to figure out what way I can do it that is most effective. Right now, honestly, it’s the campaign for impeachment, because it struck a real nerve and because it seems to be galvanizing people to think critically about what’s going on right now." As part of the campaign, Steyer ran national television ads calling for impeachment and began gathering signatures for a petition caling for impeachment.

Fox News removed the ads from their broadcasts in their second week of airing. Fox News co-president Jack Abernethy told Politico, "Due to the strong negative reaction to their ad by our viewers, we could not in good conscience take their money." Steyer spokesman Brad Deutsch said that the network's decision was "a profound failure of journalistic integrity, a suppression of constitutionally protected speech, and likely a consequence of inexcusable political pressure."

On November 9, 2017, Steyer announced he would spend an additional $10 million on impeachment ads. The ads released as part of the Need to Impeach campaign as of March 16, 2018, can be viewed below.

"Follow the Money" - Need to Impeach ad, released March 9, 2018

"Founding Fathers" - Need to Impeach ad, released February 25, 2018

"Time To Act" - Need to Impeach ad, released January 29, 2018

"South Lawn" - Need to Impeach ad, released January 26, 2018

"Fight Back" - Need to Impeach ad, released January 8, 2018

"Raise Your Voice" - Need to Impeach ad, released December 4, 2017

"Your Voice" - Need to Impeach ad, released November 16, 2017

"Momentum" - Need to Impeach ad, released November 5, 2017

"Game Day" - Need to Impeach ad, released October 30, 2017

"Join Us" - Need to Impeach ad, released October 19, 2017

Advertisements opposing GOP tax plan

On November 16, 2017, Steyer released an ad criticizing the Republican Party's tax plan and calling for Trump's impeachment. In the ad, Steyer said, "[Republicans] won't tell you that their so-called tax reform plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations while hurting the middle class. It blows up the deficit, and that means fewer investments in education, health care and job creation. It's up to all of us to stand up to this President, not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed."

Abortion

On August 12, 2017, Steyer told Politico that a candidate's support for legal access to abortion was a litmus test for him and for NextGen America. At the Netroots Nation conference in San Francisco, he said, "We're pro-choice... We do not work for a single candidate who is not pro-choice. I think people like to have litmus tests. We are explicitly pro-choice. We work a lot with Planned Parenthood, we work a lot with NARAL. We are absolutely committed to it."

Climate change

See also: Climate change

In October 2013, Steyer published an op-ed with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson about the Risky Business Initiative. According to its website, the initiative's objective was to examine "the economic risks presented by climate change and opportunities to reduce them."

Steyer delivered the keynote address at the Clean Energy Challenge on April 3, 2014. In his keynote, he said the energy field was awaiting a technological revolution but that policy changes were required to create a clean energy economy. "When you make a ton of money off a subsidy, you will fight really hard to keep it. That is what's happening today," he said. According to a release, the Clean Energy Challenge was launched to award $500,000 "to help Midwestern entrepreneurs, students and researchers bring new clean energy technology to the marketplace."

In 2017, Steyer voiced concern about Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. He said, "The Paris agreement was a great achievement of American leadership. So the idea that we're going to walk away and give up leadership of 194 countries, and walk away from our position as a leader in the world for the past 100 years, will be an incredibly expensive and dumb thing to do."

Finance policy

See also: Finance Policy

Although he previously worked for Goldman Sachs, Steyer criticized the company for receiving preferential treatment from the government during the 2008 financial crisis. In a February 2014 article in Men's Journal, Steyer said that his former company "got deferential access and deferential outcomes, and that anybody who doesn't get that is a [expletive] idiot."

Steyer served on the Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2009. The committee was created to "serve as a forum for informal discussions on financial, economic and public policy issues and help inform" the leadership of the bank.

Steyer has also served as a member of the advisory council of The Hamilton Project, an economic policy initiative of the Brookings Institution that aims to offer "a strategic vision and produces innovative policy proposals on how to create a growing economy that benefits more Americans."

Fracking

See also: Fracking

In January 2012, Steyer co-wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal supporting an increase in natural gas extraction.

Steyer helped fund a 2013 study by the University of Texas that supported fracking. He said at an April 2013 conference that fracking would help move the energy sector away from coal.

“	I am one of the people who believes that we’re going to end up fracking responsibly, and that it’s not a long-term solution, but it’s going to get us to kill coal.	”
—Tom Steyer

In March 2014, Steyer said he supported a public vote on whether fracking should be allowed in California. "In California, it takes a two-thirds vote by the Legislature to impose taxes, and in local communities, it requires a two-thirds vote to impose taxes," Steyer told delegates at the California Democratic Party's annual convention. "The business community has argued for years that this two-thirds vote is important to make sure they are not taken advantage of. Well, that exact same logic should apply when it comes to fracking," he said.

Reports in early May 2014 suggested that Steyer and his team met with environmental activist groups and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) about funding anti-fracking measures proposed for the statewide ballot. Those ballot measures were eventually pulled.

Immigration

See also: Immigration Policy

The federal government shut down for three days in January 2018, when Congress failed to reach an agreement on a spending bill.

The disagreement was partly about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Trump administration announced that it would end the Obama-era program, which provided temporary relief from deportation for individuals who were brought to the United States without legal permission as children, on March 5, 2018. Congressional Democrats wanted legal protections for DACA recipients to be part of the spending package, but the continuing resolution offered by House Republicans in mid-January did not include a DACA fix. That continuing resolution was rejected by the Senate, spurring the shutdown.

The government reopened three days later, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promised he would send DACA legislation to the Senate floor and allow an open amendment process on it. Some Democrats, including Steyer, believed Democratic leaders should not have agreed to reopen the government without a more concrete commitment on DACA.

Steyer responded to the shutdown vote by withdrawing financial support for the national party committees. "I don't have a litmus test on any one thing, but I do have a litmus test for elected officials standing on principle and doing the right thing, looked at holistically," he said. "And I want to say that after the DACA vote I have decided not to give anything to the national party committees." He confirmed to Fortune that his pledge applied to the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Keystone pipeline

See also: Keystone XL Pipeline political timeline

Steyer has expressed opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline. In a February 2014 op-ed, Steyer wrote, "If approved, Keystone XL will unlock the Alberta tar sands, spur investment in and production of dirty fossil fuels at an irreversible rate and undermine the President's global efforts to reduce carbon emissions." He said the Keystone pipeline made no sense for the United States government and the world.

Steyer argued that the Keystone pipeline would not create jobs, as proponents argued.

“	This pipeline does not go to America, but through America. It doesn’t meet the President’s test for approval. I honestly don’t understand how they can approve it.	”
—Tom Steyer

During the 2013 primary for the U.S. Senate special election in Massachusetts, Steyer's organization NextGen Climate Action ran ads criticizing U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) for supporting the Keystone Pipeline. Lynch lost the Democratic primary to Ed Markey, who went on to win the special election.

In March 2014, Steyer sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) asking her to use her power as chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to subpoena executives of TransCanada. Steyer said in his letter that the executives' prior testimony was not good enough.

On April 17, 2014, Steyer issued a Courage Pledge maintaining his opposition to Keystone XL and criticizing any individual or entity that supported the project. Steyer also weighed in on non-energy policy areas like minimum wages, healthcare, and unions in the letter.

Oil extraction tax

At an April 9, 2014, town hall in San Jose, Steyer proposed an extraction tax of 9.9 percent on each barrel of oil produced in California. He said the tax would generate $1.5 to $2 billion in revenue annually, which could be paid back to residents as a dividend.

Steyer's proposed measure did not appear on the 2016 ballot. A similar measure was defeated by voters 54-46 percent in 2006.

Opposition

Keystone Pipeline

See also: Keystone XL Pipeline and Keystone XL Pipeline political timeline

Steyer received criticism for his campaign against the Keystone XL Pipeline. U.S. Representative Lee Terry (R-Neb.) said Steyer would profit personally if Keystone wasn't implemented. Farallon Capitol, the hedge fund that Steyer founded and retired from in January 2013, had invested billions in Keystone XL competitor the TransMountain Pipeline System. U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) also accused Steyer of hypocrisy because of the financial connection between Farallon Capitol and the TransMountain pipeline. A spokesman for Steyer said Steyer had divested himself completely from Farallon.

For Our Future super PAC

On May 16, 2016, The Washington Post reported that eight AFL-CIO-affiliated building trades unions sent AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka a letter objecting to the organization's work with Steyer's NextGen Climate on the For Our Future super PAC. In the letter, the unions criticized Steyer for opposing the Keystone XL Pipeline, which they said would have provided union jobs if it had been approved. The letter's signatories were the North America’s Building Trades Unions; the Laborers’ International Union of North America; the International Union of Operating Engineers; the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers; the United Association Union of Plumbers, Fitters, Welders, and Service Technicians; the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association; the International Union of Elevator Constructors; and the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers, & Allied Workers.

Money in politics

In March 2014, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asked why then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other Democratic officials did not object to Steyer's campaign spending. "I noted with interest the majority leader was hammering the Koch brothers [conservative donors Charles and David Koch] again today, and I wondered why he left out billionaire Tom Steyer, who plans to spend as much as $100 million pushing the issue of climate change in the 2014 election and appears positioned to rival the deep-pocketed Koch brothers," he said. "It strikes me as curious that if we are going to demonize people for exercising their constitutional rights to go out and speak and participate in the political process, we would just pick out the people that are opposed to us and leave out the people who are in favor of us."

A March 2014 online ad from the 501(c)(4) group American Commitment characterized Steyer and his brother as progressive versions of Charles and David Koch. The ad included a video clip of Reid criticizing the Koch brothers for spending large sums of money on campaigns.

Steyer addressed the ad's claims in an April interview with Politico and The Washington Post. "That is not something I embrace. I think there are real distinctions between the Koch brothers and us," said Steyer, adding that the Koch brothers' priorities "line up perfectly with their pocketbooks — and that's not true for us." Koch spokesman Robert Tappan responded that, "That [Steyer's] assertion is false and disingenuous, and people can see through that. Koch opposes all mandates and subsidies, even when they exist for businesses in which we operate. In doing so, we act against our self-interest. We have been consistent in this position for over 40 years."

Philanthropy

Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, pledged in 2010 to donate most of their wealth to charitable endeavors during their lifetimes. Steyer has contributed more than $100 million to universities and nonprofit organizations that conduct research and advocacy related to climate change and clean energy technology.

Beneficial State Bank

In 2007, Steyer and Taylor founded Beneficial State Bank, a nonprofit community bank in Oakland, to "provide loans to the underserved in California and along the West Coast." According to Steyer's page on the bank's website, the organization "focuses on transformative sectors in a community to provide economic justice and environmental sustainability to that sector, while investing any profits back into the community."

Stanford University

Steyer and Taylor donated $40 million to Stanford University in 2009 to create the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy. According to its website, the TomKat Center "was formed to harness the skills and creativity of Stanford University's leading science, technology, and policy experts to transform the world's energy systems for a sustainable future."

The following year, the couple donated $7 million to Stanford to open the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance. The Steyer-Taylor Center says it aims to explore and advance "public policies and financial mechanisms leading to an energy future that protects the environment in an economically sensible way."

Steyer serves on Stanford University's board of trustees, and he earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1983. The Daily Caller reported that Steyer has been critical of the school's $22.2 billion endowment from the oil and gas industries, saying, "Climate change is truly the challenge of our generation, which is why I have long publicly supported divestment from fossil fuels and continue to do so." He said that he remains "confident that Stanford will continue to push to accelerate our transition to a clean energy economy."

Yale University

In 2011, Steyer and Taylor contributed $25 million to help Yale University open its Energy Sciences Institute. According to its website, the institute "hosts faculty from the physical sciences and focuses on the emerging challenges facing the environment and energy sectors."

Steyer earned a B.A. in economics and political science from Yale in 1979.

Center for the Next Generation

Steyer and his brother founded the Center for the Next Generation in 2011, and Steyer serves on its board of directors. According to the center's website, it focuses on the "risk of dangerous climate change, and the threat of diminished prospects for children and families."

Center for American Progress

Steyer is a member of the board of directors of the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank founded by political strategist and Hillary Clinton presidential campaign Chairman John Podesta.

Fair Shake Commission

Steyer is a member of the Fair Shake Commission on Inequality in California, which says it aims to "tackle the issue of inequality in a state where economic insecurity and poverty coexist with unprecedented levels of wealth creation."

Greener Capital

Steyer invested $15 million in green technology businesses through the venture capital company Greener Capital.

Save Lives California

Steyer serves as co-chairman of Save Lives California, which funds cancer research and aims to prevent teen smoking.

TomKat Ranch

Steyer and his wife own TomKat Ranch, which raises and sells grassfed beef under the name Leftcoast Grassfed. The couple initially planned to use the ranch as "a model conservation project, demonstrating ways to improve soil health, use solar energy and conserve water," but it became an experiment in raising animals in a sustainable manner.

According to its website, the TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation aims to "provide healthy food on working lands in a way that sustains the planet and inspires others to action" and "serve as a learning laboratory for animal agriculture on working lands focusing on climate stability, nature’s benefits, healthy food, biodiversity, and vibrant community."

See also

• Groups
  • Center for American Progress
  • Democracy Alliance
  • NextGen Climate Action
• Policy
  • Climate change
  • Environmental Policy
  • Finance Policy
  • Fracking
  • Keystone XL Pipeline
• Political activity
  • Ballot Measures
  • Opposition to the Trump administration
• Other donors
  • Charles Koch
  • David Koch
  • George Soros

External links

• NextGen Climate
• TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy
• Fair Shake Commission on Inequality in California
• TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation
• Leftcoast Grassfed
• Democracy Alliance
• Social media:
  • Facebook
  • Medium
  • Twitter

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