Tom Steyer, Anti-Trump Billionaire Who Ran Pro-Impeachment Ad Campaign, May Be Running For President In 2020
Tom Steyer, the San Francisco billionaire who spent millions of dollars of his own money in an unsuccessful effort to convince Democratic members of Congress — and their voters — to impeach Donald Trump has signaled that he may be considering a run for president in 2020.
As Politico reports, on Tuesday Steyer did everything but formally announce that he’s running for president. He purchased a “six-figure” ad package that includes spots on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram — as well as full-page ads in USA Today and other newspapers owned by the same media conglomerate, Gannett. He also revamped his website to include a political platform, and announced a series of five town halls — the first of which will take place in South Carolina. South Carolina is considered a crucial state in early primaries.
As for the town halls, the first will take place on December 4 in Charleston, followed by one in Fresno, California, at an as-yet-undetermined date. The remaining three, and their dates and locations, have not been announced as of this writing.
And as for his platform, Steyer is keeping it simple: he has boiled down his message into five points, which he describes as the “five rights.”
WATCH: Tom Steyer outlines "5 Rights" for Dems ahead of 2020 https://t.co/FQSfXGEpss pic.twitter.com/5FGOhgkAmk
— The Hill (@thehill) November 20, 2018
Those “five rights” are as follows.
The Right To An Equal Vote: Steyer wants to eliminate barriers to voting, though he doesn’t name specifics.
The Right To Clean Air And Water: The core of Steyer’s environmental policy, which skews in favor of tighter regulation.
The Right To Learn: Steyer’s platform includes access to free education, from Pre-K through college, according to Politico.
The Right To A Living Wage: Again, Steyer doesn’t give specifics, but other Democrats — most notably Bernie Sanders — have suggested a federal minimum wage of $15 per hour.
The Right To Health: Steyer proposes universal healthcare (almost certainly via a single-payer system).
At this point it bears noting that Steyer, as L.A. Times writer Christine Mai-Duc opines, could very well just be unveiling a campaign aimed at putting pressure on the Democratic Party to make progress on issues he deems important.
“These five rights should be at the core of the Democratic Party’s 2020 platform, but this is bigger than any political party.”
Meanwhile, at least three other Californians have given hints that they might be considering a 2020 run against Donald Trump. Those Californians include Senator Kamala Harris, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, and Bay Area congressman Eric Swalwell.
