Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer will make a big “announcement” about his political future in Iowa on Wednesday, his team announced Tuesday, a potential tease that the liberal activist will announce his decision on a presidential run.
Steyer “will make an announcement concerning his political plans for 2019 and beyond” at a previously scheduled event in Des Moines, his organization said in a press release.
The deep-pocketed Steyer has been growing more and more involved in Democratic politics over the past few election cycles. He’s spent hundreds of millions on his organization NextGen Climate Action to push for environmentalist Democratic candidates, and he has singlehandedly funded Need To Impeach, a group that has aired a slew of ads calling for President Trump’s impeachment.
Steyer’s group has already been on the airwaves this month with TV ad campaigns in the five early primary states, according to media trackers following the buys.
He spent $120 million on political activities in the 2018 midterms alone, and could fund far more than that should he run. His ability to self-fund is rivaled only former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s.
Steyer doesn’t start out with the same name recognition as other Democratic candidates, and barely makes a blip in recent early polls of the field. It’s also unclear how well a self-funding billionaire will do in a Democratic primary, and whether an older white male is what many base voters will be looking for. But his groups have millions of supporters on their email lists, and he’s been one of the earliest and most vocal supporters of impeaching Trump. He’s likely to be a factor in the race if he runs.
