Billionaire former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer is dropping out of the 2020 presidential race , leaving the Democratic primary after failing to earn any delegates in early states.
Despite Steyer taking a more progressive stance in his campaign, many political experts believe his exit just days ahead of Super Tuesday could be a boost to former Vice President Joe Biden .
Steyer, who for years has led efforts to gain support to impeach President Donald Trump, spent more than $150 million in the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, but failed to gain enough votes to win delegates in any of them, Business Insider reported. He told supporters on Saturday that he would be leaving the race, making the announcement after voting results showed that he failed to reach the 15 percent threshold in South Carolina that would have allowed him to get delegates there.
As the Business Insider report noted, Steyer took a more progressive lane during his Democratic primary campaign but failed to make inroads with voters as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders dominated this demographic en route to winning two of the first three states and knocking former Vice President Joe Biden out of his status as the race’s frontrunner.
A number of political experts believe that Steyer’s exit could help Biden, who scored his first win with a decisive victory in South Carolina. Ahead of Saturday’s vote, many noted that Steyer seemed to be pulling support away from Biden, as were other moderates remaining in the race.
“At this critical point, candidates like Steyer, Klobuchar and Bloomberg are splitting up the anti-Bernie vote,” tweeted Democratic strategist and fundraiser Jon Cooper, who has opposed Sanders.
“They’re drawing away support from Joe Biden, the Democrat who is best positioned to defeat Trump, which should be everyone’s overarching goal.”
Tom Steyer just dropped out of the race. He never should have been in it to begin with. We’ll see if he endorses anyone at this time. But it probably helps Joe Biden that Steyer is now out of the way before Super Tuesday. #SouthCarolinaPrimary
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) March 1, 2020
Ahead of Saturday’s primary, Biden also weighed in on the effect that Steyer’s spending had on the race, particularly with Biden’s own support among black voters. In an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation last week, Biden said that Steyer’s large advertising spending was cutting into his own support among black voters in South Carolina, a key base of support for Biden.
“What’s happening is you have Steyer spending hundreds of millions, tens of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars, out campaigning there,” Biden said, via Politico .
“So, I think a lot is happening in terms of the amount of money being spent by the billionaires to try to cut into the African American vote. I think that has a lot to do with it.”
