Tom Steyer, a billionaire philanthropist and climate activist who previously made an unsuccessful run for president in 2020, has entered the already crowded race to replace Gavin Newsom as California’s Governor.
Eight other Democrats and two Republicans have thrown their hats in as well, and others are expected to announce bids soon. But the race still has no clear front-runner, with Newsom barred from running again by term limits and former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla both announcing they will not be running.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
Steyer launched his campaign on Tuesday with a pitch centered on affordability.
“Californians deserve a life they can afford, but the Californians who make this state run are being run over by the cost of living,” the 68-year-old Democrat said in his announcement video, adding that he would make corporations “pay their fair share” and “launch the largest drive to build homes that you can afford in the history of California.”
“Sacramento politicians are afraid to change up this system. I’m not,” he said.
Steyer, whose net worth Forbes estimates to be around $2 billion, made his fortune as the founder of a San Francisco hedge fund before selling his shares in 2012 and dedicating his focus—and tens of millions in donations—to politics and activism.
Here’s what to know about him and the other candidates he’s facing in the Golden State’s gubernatorial election next year.
He ran for president in 2020
Steyer’s bid for governor is not his first foray into a high-profile election.
The former hedge fund manager ran for president in 2020, finishing third in South Carolina’s Democratic primary after President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
He was largely able to fund his own campaign, funneling $200 million into the effort from his own pocket. He could again draw on his wealth in his California gubernatorial bid to fill his campaign coffers and counter potential disadvantages caused by his late entrance to the race.
His personal funds alone did not prove enough to put him over the top in 2020, however: He ultimately dropped out of the race before Super Tuesday after failing to translate his investments into voter support.
He’s a Democratic megadonor
Steyer has poured millions into Democratic politics outside of his own campaigns as well. He noted in his book Cheaper, Better, Faster, excerpted in TIME last spring, that he had donated “more than a quarter of a billion dollars to Democratic campaigns and causes, more than any other individual.”
In 2016, Steyer spent more than $11 million on a California ballot measure to raise the tax on cigarettes and fund healthcare programs. He has also donated additional millions to defend a state environmental law requiring California to reduce its emissions, which was threatened by a ballot measure in 2010.
On a national scale, Steyer began a “Need to Impeach” campaign during President Donald Trump’s first term, for which he spent $20 million. The ads he financed for the campaign urged Americans to sign a petition lobbying for the House to impeach Trump.
“The fact of the matter is this President has performed in a lawless way throughout the campaign and throughout his presidency and he is an urgent threat to the American people,” Steyer said in an interview at the time.
More recently, Steyer spent $12 million on ads to support Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Democrats’ redistricting measure, which has redrawn the state’s congressional maps—with voters’ approval—in an effort to counter Trump and Republicans’ efforts to gerrymander other states’ maps in the GOP’s favor.
He’s a well-known philanthropist and activist
Steyer’s involvement in philanthropy and activism dates back years before he left his hedge fund to dedicate his energy more fully to that work.
He and his wife, Kat Taylor, co-founded Beneficial State Bank, a nonprofit community development bank that makes loans to small businesses and reinvests profits back into the communities it serves, in 2007.
Read more: Why I Left Billions on the Table to Fight for Climate Change
In 2013, Steyer started an organization then named NextGen Climate, which has since expanded and rebranded as NextGen America—a nonprofit that supports progressive approaches to climate change, immigration, healthcare, and education.
Steyer has also started a program called California Food for California Kids, which feeds children in schools around the state using farm-to-table food.
Who else is in the race?
Other prominent Democrats running to succeed Newsom include former California congresswoman Katie Porter; former Health and Human Services SecretaryXavier Becerra; former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; and Betty Yee, who was the state controller from 2015 to 2023.
Stephen Cloobeck, a real estate developer, is the other Democratic billionaire running for governor; he has put $13 million into his own campaign so far.
The Republican candidates, meanwhile, are former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County.
With just over six months until the June primary, no candidate has garnered enough support to emerge as the obvious front runner. A recent poll from the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley showed that 44% of voters were undecided on whom to support.
The poll, which was conducted in late October, showed Steyer with 1% support.