Billionaire Tom Steyer at a crossroad: Run for California governor or go after Trump?
Tom Steyer has some big decisions to make, and judging from his moves over the last few months, he's keeping his options open.
In California, the billionaire Democratic donor became known for fighting climate change and tapping his bank account to attack politicians who denied it.
More recently, he helped fund a successful state ballot measure to raise cigarette taxes, warned at the California Democratic Party convention of the corrupting influence of corporate America, and released a policy paper on the state’s growing income inequality.
Now the former hedge fund manager who has spent tens of millions funding Democratic candidates and liberal causes across the country is mounting a challenge to President Trump on his own, going so far as to call for impeachment and use his nonprofit, NextGen Climate, to encourage citizens to lobby their congressional representatives for it.
As the 2018 race for governor heats up, Steyer must consider whether his time and money would be better spent fighting Trump and the Republican-led Congress, or bloodying fellow Democrats over the next year.
Steyer toyed with running for office when California’s former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer announced her retirement in 2015, but he decided he could do more as a private citizen to promote justice in education, the economy and the environment. He said it was a “hard decision.”