Tom Steyer entered California's governor's race as an unlikely champion of the left. A hedge fund founder with a net worth in the billions, he represented the kind of concentrated wealth that progressive activists have long railed against. Yet by the spring primary season, major progressive groups had lined up behind him, transforming him into a top-tier contender in a crowded field.
The pivot was jarring enough that even the endorsers acknowledged the tension. Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, the Sanders-aligned group that backed Steyer, said plainly: "If you had asked me a year ago, 'Oh, are you going to endorse a billionaire for anything? I think that would have been highly unlikely." But Geevarghese noted that Steyer's policy platform and engagement with liberal groups in California swayed the decision. "The most energizing and ideologically aligned candidate just happens to be a billionaire," he said.
The alliance reflected a calculated trade-off. Steyer has spent over $120 million of his own money on the campaign, flooding the airwaves and field operations with resources that other progressives simply could not match. He pushed hard on signature liberal causes: single-payer health care, taxing oil company profits, and support for a billionaire tax likely to appear on November's ballot. That consistency gave him an opening as competitors stumbled.
Katie Porter, a former congresswoman backed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, had been positioned as the race's natural progressive choice. She had built her national profile grilling Trump administration officials and exposing financial industry misconduct on the campaign trail. But her gubernatorial campaign derailed after videos surfaced of her arguing with a staff member and conducting a tense television interview. Progressive leaders acknowledged those incidents influenced their calculations.
Irene Kao, executive director of Courage California, said her group's April endorsement of Steyer "came as a surprise to us." Yet she framed it defensively: "A lot of our work has to do with holding corporations and the wealthy accountable, so in some ways we feel like it is a good thing that voters and people are approaching Tom Steyer in this race with that sort of skepticism."
State Representative Alex Lee, chair of the California Legislative Progressive Caucus and an early Steyer backer, had himself felt "skeptical" when Steyer announced his candidacy. But as the field narrowed, Lee saw Steyer consolidate the progressive lane. He contrasted Steyer's forceful advocacy on core issues with what he viewed as Porter's muddled messaging. "He's running a progressive policy-first campaign and that is what a lot of people wanted to see," Lee said of Steyer.
Steyer's journey to that moment involved years of climate activism. After leaving hedge fund Farallon Capital, he founded NextGen America, a progressive political committee focused on climate, health care and reproductive rights. His 2020 presidential run centered on environmental issues. He launched his gubernatorial campaign in November and had already secured backing from California's largest nursing union before the progressive group endorsements arrived.
Yet Steyer faced persistent questions about his financial history. Critics pointed to his hedge fund's past investments in private prisons, an association that stuck to him despite his denials. Steyer's fund has sold those holdings, and he exited the company in 2012. He called the prison investment a "mistake" and has run advertisements addressing the criticism directly.
Porter's campaign struck back, noting that Steyer "made his billions off of investments in Big Oil, Wall Street, and private prisons." A CBS News/YouGov poll released in late April showed Steyer at 15 percent support among registered voters, ahead of both Porter at 9 percent and Xavier Becerra, the former Health and Human Services secretary at 13 percent. All candidates remained within the poll's margin of error, reflecting the race's volatility.
The June 2 primary will feature all candidates on a single ballot, with the top two advancing to November. Early voting ballots were set to go out in mail the weekend before the poll was conducted. Democrats anxiously sought to unite behind a single nominee to prevent two Republicans from reaching the general election, but remained fractured across multiple candidates.
At a debate at Pomona College, Steyer returned repeatedly to his "change agent" message, attempting to persuade remaining progressives to consolidate around him. "The people who support me are progressive, progressives, environmentalists and unions, including teachers and nurses," he said. "If you want change, there's only one person on this stage they're scared of."
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Steyer's money proved powerful enough to overcome progressive ideology about billionaires, but skepticism about his past investments and his opponent's track record on accountability will likely define the final sprint."
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