Say this for Tom Steyer: He is persistent. Many billionaires, after blowing $342 million on a failed presidential run in 2020, would abandon the idea of trying to buy themselves a high-profile political office for which they were unqualified. Not Mr. Steyer. He just dropped $216 million on a failed bid for California governor. His was the most expensive primary campaign in the state’s history.
Even by the standards of self-funded vanity campaigns by the very rich, Mr. Steyer, a hedge fund manager turned climate activist, distinguished himself. Thanks largely to spending $201 million on campaign ads, he outpaced a host of notable self-funders from the past, including David Trone, who spent $60 million unsuccessfully running in Maryland’s 2024 Democratic Senate primary; Mehmet Oz, a.k.a. Dr. Oz, who spent nearly $27 million being defeated for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania in 2022; and Linda McMahon, who spent $97 million losing Senate races in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012.
Adjusting for inflation, Mr. Steyer came close to matching the self-funded flameout Meg Whitman, who sank $144 million into her campaign for California governor in 2010. Mr. Steyer has now spent more than $500 million in failed campaigns.
To be fair, California is an expensive place to run for office. And Mr. Steyer’s spending spree was nowhere near the $1 billion that Michael Bloomberg dropped in just 104 days on his 2020 campaign for president. Still, it was quite the endeavor.
Billionaires are more or less free to spend their money however they like. But surely all this money could have been better spent on something — anything — else to help Mr. Steyer’s fellow Americans. The possibilities are many and varied:
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Address California’s near-apocalyptic housing crunch. Subsidize the construction of affordable units. Fund community land trusts that help keep housing stock affordable. Support ballot measures or candidates (not named Steyer) focused on reforming the state’s zoning and regulatory insanity.
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Beef up the roster of teachers. There is a dire teacher shortage in many parts of California. Fund scholarships or service programs aimed at putting aspiring educators into underserved areas.
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Subsidize the kids. Even with increases in public funding, the demand for affordable child care significantly outpaces supply, especially for infants. The average cost of subsidized care has reached $1,700 a month, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
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Donate to Planned Parenthood. Thanks to President Trump’s defunding frenzy, 57 clinics in 20 states have closed or consolidated since the beginning of his term, according to a new report by KKF.
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Fund a pro-vaccination education and public-service campaign. Someone needs to save the American people from the quackery of its health and human services secretary.
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Help defray the legal expenses of the immigrants swept up in the Trump administration’s mass deportation mania.
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Support groups focused on safeguarding the integrity of elections. Right on schedule, Mr. Trump is spreading his election fraud nonsense again.
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Alternatively, fund a one-shot project with plenty of spice: Pay for a chunk of Mr. Trump’s god awful White House ballroom so regular taxpayers don’t get stuck with the tab.
After hitting it big in the private sector, many of America’s super rich delude themselves into thinking that they are masters of the universe destined to dominate in every arena. (See: Elon Musk does DOGE.) And because they have so much money, they are accustomed to having pretty much everyone indulge their wildest fantasies. (At least Jeff Bezos settled for buying himself a seat atop the Met Gala.) Consider this pathetic phenomenon yet one more reason the American people — or, at least, Californians — should demand a more rational way to fund political campaigns.
Until then, let’s raise a glass to California voters for refusing to have their heads turned by Mr. Steyer’s millions.
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