LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the wide-open race for California governor, billionaire Tom Steyer is on a spending binge, using his personal fortune to saturate TV screens and mobile phones with advertising while his competitors accuse him of trying to use his vast wealth to buy the state’s most powerful job. Steyer is a hedge fund manager-turned-liberal activist.
The whole spectacle is a familiar one: a contest supposedly about public power, staged through private wealth. Steyer’s ads, in which he promises to bring down household costs or rails against federal immigration raids, appear inescapable at times in heavily Democratic Los Angeles, the state’s largest media market. Data compiled by advertising tracker AdImpact show Steyer has spent or booked over $115 million in ads for broadcast TV, cable and radio — nearly 30 times the amount of his nearest Democratic rival. Even when ad buys from all his major competitors are combined, along with ad purchases by independent committees supporting candidates, Steyer is outspending the field by tens of millions of dollars.
Who Gets Heard
If he makes it through the June 2 primary election, Steyer could easily eclipse the 2010 record set by Republican Meg Whitman, who spent $178.5 million in a losing bid for governor, much of it her own money. At the time, it was the costliest campaign for statewide office in the nation’s history. The numbers tell the story more clearly than any campaign slogan: access to the airwaves is being bought in bulk, and the rest of the field is left trying to shout through the noise.
Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, one of Steyer’s chief rivals, warned her supporters this month, “Billionaire money is flooding our state in an attempt to buy this election.” Mail-in ballots are set to go out to voters next month. Steyer is among a crowd of candidates hoping to seize a spotlight after former Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s dramatic departure from the race following sexual assault allegations that he denies.
Steyer has ticked up in polling amid his spending splurge, but he has not broken away from the field, leaving some wondering if he’s getting value for his dollars. Veteran Democratic strategist Bill Carrick, who for years advised the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said, “If your first round of ads doesn’t move you dramatically (in the polls), the third, fourth, fifth, six, seventh and eighth rounds won’t either. There is something inherently holding Steyer back.” Carrick added, “Somehow the campaign is frozen.”
The Money Machine
History shows that money doesn’t always translate into votes. Billionaire developer Rick Caruso spent over $100 million in 2022 in his bid to become Los Angeles mayor, much of it his own money, but he was handily defeated by Mayor Karen Bass, who spent a fraction of Caruso’s total. Billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion of his own money on his 2020 presidential bid before dropping out. Steyer’s money was unable to lift him into contention in the 2020 presidential contest, when he dropped out early in the year after a poor finish in the South Carolina primary.
Steyer has never held elected office. In a 2019 interview with The Associated Press, when asked what he would say to people who think he’s trying to buy the presidency, Steyer said, “I don’t think that’s possible,” and added, “I’m never going to apologize for succeeding in business. That’s America, right?”
His campaign did not respond directly when asked about similar criticism facing his run for governor. Spokesperson Kevin Liao said in a statement, “Tom now stands as the only Democrat with the grassroots energy, institutional backing and resources to advance to the general election.” The phrase does a lot of work there, bundling “grassroots energy” with institutional backing and resources, as if the apparatus and the street were the same thing.
The governor’s race was recently reordered by two developments: Swalwell abruptly withdrew from the race then resigned from Congress, following sexual assault allegations. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump endorsed conservative commentator Steve Hilton. Still, there is no clear leader.
Polling in late March and early April by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found a cluster of candidates in close competition: Democrats Steyer and Porter, Republicans Hilton and Chad Bianco, and Swalwell. Other candidates were trailing. The polling was conducted before Swalwell withdrew.
What the System Calls Choice
Democrats have feared the party’s large number of candidates could lead to them getting shut out of the general election in November because California has a primary system in which only the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party. Leading Democrats are all claiming to have picked up support since Swalwell’s exit. Steyer nabbed one plum endorsement, when the influential California Teachers Association, which previously backed Swalwell, recommended him.
In his ads, Steyer promises to “abolish” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been staging raids across California. In another, he laments the state’s punishing cost of housing, saying, “Everybody needs an affordable place to live.” Those lines are aimed at a public living under raids, rent pressure and the usual polished promises of reform, all while the campaign itself is being driven by the scale of private money pouring into the race.
The June 2 primary election is in 44 days, and the contest remains crowded. For now, the clearest thing in the race is not a platform or a movement, but the size of the checkbook.