By Felicia Sonmez / The Washington Post
Tom Steyer, the California billionaire best known for his campaign to impeach President Donald Trump, is making a move toward a potential 2020 White House bid, launching a series of town halls in key primary states on the platform of “five rights.”
Steyer announced the move Tuesday on his website and with a full-page ad in newspapers nationwide. His “five rights” focus on education, the environment, voting rights, the economy and health care.
“These rights are fundamental to our shared belief in the promise of America, a promise of the freedom and power to pursue our dreams and earn a fair share of this country’s vast wealth,” Steyer said in a statement announcing the tour. “A hostile takeover of our democracy by large corporations and their enablers in politics has eroded that promise, and we must act to reclaim that power and put it back in the hands of the American people.”
The tour begins Dec. 4 with an event in Charleston, South Carolina, and moves on to Fresno, California. There will also be stops in the key presidential primary and caucus states of New Hampshire, Iowa and Nevada, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Steyer, a philanthropist and former hedge fund manager, founded the advocacy group NextGen America in 2012 and has spent more than $100 million on political campaigns since 2016. But he took a pass on running for office in 2018, instead launching a nationwide TV ad campaign urging lawmakers to impeach Trump.
The potential 2020 Democratic field includes dozens of would-be contenders, such as former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. One advantage Steyer would bring to the race, according to his team, is a network of more than 6 million supporters built through his Need to Impeach effort.
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