California billionaire Tom Steyer moves closer to the 2020 White House bid

Felicia Sonmez and Dino Grandoni, The Washington Post

published

7:46 AM PST, Tuesday 20 November 2018

Tom Steyer, the California billionaire best known for his campaign to dismiss President Donald Trump, is considering a potential candidacy for the White House in 2020, by launching public meetings in key states on the platform of the "Five Rights".

Steyer announced the move Tuesday on his website and with a full-page ad in newspapers across the country. His "five rights" are focused on education, the environment, voting rights, the economy and health care.

"These rights are fundamental to our common belief in America's promise, a promise of freedom and power to pursue our dreams and earn a fair share of the great wealth of this country," Steyer said in a statement. a press release announcing the tour. "The hostile takeover of our democracy by big business and their political enablers has eroded that promise and we must act to recover that power and put it back in the hands of the American people."

The tour begins on December 4 with an event in Charleston, South Carolina, and continues in Fresno, California. According to Steyer spokeswoman Aleigha Cavalier, there will also be stops in the main states of the presidential primary and caucuses of Nevada, New Hampshire and Iowa.

Tuesday's launch will also include a six-digit web ad purchased on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, Cavalier said.

Steyer, a philanthropist and former hedge fund manager, founded the NextGen America advocacy group in 2012 and has spent more than $ 100 million on political campaigns since 2016. But he ran for president in 2018 at the time. Instead of launching a nationwide television advertising campaign urge lawmakers to attack Trump.

In an interview with the Washington Post in his San Francisco office in September, Steyer was upset when asked if he was going to run for president. But he suggested that the next president is not necessarily a current or former senator or governor.

"I think the most important thing will be to have someone who [has] We have thought a lot about these questions in order to understand how the process works and how the policy works, "he said. This is a real obstacle for everyone. . . . Looking at Mr. Trump, what you see is that he has not really thought about the political implications of much of what he does. "

Trump is the first person to win the presidency without any experience in the public service or the army. If he had to win, Steyer would be the second.

The 2020 Democrats' potential field includes dozens of potential candidates, such as former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Steyer's advantage over the race, according to his team, is a network of more than 6 million grassroots supporters, built through his Need to Impeach effort.

The day after polling day, Steyer was in Washington. In a speech to reporters at a press conference organized by environmental groups, it was clear that the next elections were in his mind.

On climate change, Steyer said: "It's totally unclear to me that Republicans are willing to compromise."

"Going home was a big step forward," he added. "But we must realize that this is only one step."