Tom Steyer

Steyer was born in 1957 and grew up in New York City. He studied economics and political science at Yale University, graduating summa cum laude. After college, he worked on mergers and acquisitions for the investment bank Morgan Stanley. He went back to school to earn an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.[3][4]

After graduate school, Steyer worked for the New York investment bank Goldman Sachs and moved to San Francisco in 1986 to join the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman. He then started his own hedge fund, Farallon Capital Management, which he managed until 2012, when he retired to focus on political advocacy and philanthropy.[4][5]

In 2013, Steyer founded NextGen Climate. According to its website, NextGen Climate was formed "to prevent climate disaster and promote prosperity for all Americans."[6] Steyer rebranded NextGen Climate as NextGen America in July 2017 to reflect a broader focus on opposition to President Donald Trump and support for a range of progressive policies. "This is a fight for the soul of American democracy and we have expanded our mission to meet the challenge at hand," he said.[7]

According to Investor's Business Daily, Steyer spent more money on the 2014 and 2016 elections—$73 million and approximately $100 million, respectively—than any other individual donor.[8] In May 2016, Forbes listed Steyer at number 387 on its list of the 400 wealthiest people in the United States.[5] He spent $74 million during the 2018 elections.[9]

Tom Steyer did not complete [the profile publisher]'s 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

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Campaign websiteSteyer's campaign website stated the following:Tom’s Plans for CaliforniaCalifornians care about results – and who’s going to be able to deliver when it comes to lowering costs. Tom Steyer has a history of getting things done for California, even when the usual politicians, and the usual way of doing things, couldn’t deliver. These are his plans.BUILD ONE MILLION HOMES YOU CAN AFFORDA home is more than a place to sleep or a piece of property to be owned. It defies a single purpose. It connects you to community and it gives you belonging. It is where you build your future, raise a family, and it’s how you achieve the California Dream. But today, that fundamental promise—the chance to put down roots and raise a family—is slipping away. Californians cannot afford to live in California. We cannot treat our housing crisis as just a mathematical shortage of assets; it is a crisis of the California Dream.Housing underpins everything in California. I know that building more housing is possible. Nearly a decade ago, I signed on to help pass new laws to hold local governments accountable, provide permanent revenues for affordable housing programs, and streamline local zoning approvals. I’ve seen firsthand how these tools can work when they are actually enforced, and as Governor, I will use them to ensure that when builders follow the rules, they can get to work.I’m no stranger to building housing. I’ve done it before. I co-founded Beneficial State Bank with my wife Kat Taylor—a mission-driven Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Beneficial State Bank has spent nearly two decades serving communities abandoned by Wall Street and working to directly dismantle the legacy of redlining and disinvestment. To date, we have financed over 17,000 affordable housing units.California used to build more than twice as many units as it does now. We need to return to that historic level of production. We can build 1 million homes over four years and fundamentally transform affordability in our state. Building should be easy. We should bring the same innovation and technology synonymous with California to our housing crisis. And above all else, our housing system should work for working people.Here’s how I’ll do that—How do we do this?Make Building EasierI’ll make financing easy so we can build homes everyone can afford.  I will streamline permitting, reform zoning, and enforce laws to build faster.I will slash impact fees and transfer taxes by closing the “Trump Tax Loophole.”Make Building InnovativeI’ll invest in industrialized construction like prefab and modular housing, cut red tape, and build with union labor.I will treat housing like a public investment by using the state's purchasing power to aggregate demand and build the country’s largest industrialized construction market. I will treat housing like a public investment to unlock stalled mixed-income developments currently paralyzed by high financing costs. I will promote innovation and flexibility at state agencies. Make Housing Work for All CaliforniansI will put families ahead of Wall Street. I will protect renters. I will take on the insurance crisis and make housing resilient to disasters. I will shelter homeless Californians and expand our interim housing options with matching services. I will take care of our veterans, our students, and agricultural communities.CLOSE CORPORATE TAX LOOPHOLESCalifornia has created a two-tiered tax system. While working people pay their fair share, the wealthiest people and corporations exploit tax loopholes to skip out on paying billions of dollars every year.This is money that should go to our schools, healthcare, and infrastructure. Our recent report shows how wealthy commercial property owners – including Donald Trump himself – have avoided paying taxes on what their properties are actually worth, collectively costing California $243 billion since 2012.When corporations don’t pay their fair share, everyday Californians are left to pick up the tab, and cities and counties are forced to push taxes, impact fees, and service charges onto residents, making California’s affordability crisis even worse.Tom is going to close these corporate loopholes, and raise $20 billion of new revenue each year to fund things like education, healthcare, childcare, and home care, all without charging working people a penny.How do we do this?Close the Trump Tax Loophole.We will reform the commercial side of Prop. 13 to end this corporate tax break that lets the wealthiest property owners, like Donald Trump, avoid paying taxes based on what their skyscrapers, golf courses, and tech campuses are actually worth.Stop letting some of the most valuable companies in the world get away with paying taxes on 1970s property values.Close the Water’s Edge loophole and level the playing field for local businesses.While small businesses in California pay taxes on everything they earn, multinational giants use this loophole to legally hide their profits in offshore tax havens.Tom will end this practice and make sure big corporations pay their fair share just like everyone else.LOWER ELECTRIC BILLSThe electric companies are ripping us off. That’s a fact. Since 2019, electricity prices in California have risen nearly 50% – over twice the rate of inflation – costing families in California thousands of dollars.Californians’ utility costs are double the national average. We pay higher rates here than in any other state in the continental United States, and yet we are still susceptible to frequent power outages and utility-caused wildfires.And it’s the result of a few huge utilities having a monopoly, meaning that they can charge whatever they want. Monopolies deliver the worst product at the highest price. This is unacceptable. And it doesn’t have to be this way.We are going to break up their monopoly power and bring utility rates down by 25% in California by bringing competition to the grid.How do we do this?Break utility monopoly power and open the grid to competition.Utilities will continue maintaining poles and wires, but they will not be allowed to block cheaper energy solutions or force ratepayers to fund unnecessary mega-projects.We will break the utility monopoly power and make room for lower-cost energy providers to compete, helping drive down bills.Become the world leader in a truly distributed and resilient grid.Become less reliant on massive transmission lines and distant substations that can fail during wildfires by focusing more on local batteries, rooftop and community solar, and microgrids that keep neighborhoods powered and help bring prices down.Connect new power immediately.End years-long delays that keep clean and affordable energy sitting on the sidelines.Require utilities to meet interconnection deadlines and impose penalties when they fail.End guaranteed double-digit profits at ratepayer expense.Stop approving excessive returns for corporate utilities, and shift from a system that rewards spending to one that rewards efficiency and lower bills.Finance grid upgrades using the most cost-effective tools available, including expanded public bond financing.Reform the Public Utilities Commission.Appoint forward-thinking regulators who work for ratepayers, not utility lobbyists, and ban political donations by electric utilities.PROVIDE FREE EDUCATION FROM PRE-K TO COLLEGEEvery child in California has the fundamental right to an education. But not every child in California is getting what they need to learn. As it stands, less than a third of eighth graders are proficient in reading and math, and we are in the middle of national rankings. We need to support our teachers and our schools so that they can provide the best education possible to kids.California’s schools are starved of funding. When adjusted for cost of living, our public schools rank 31st in the nation for per-pupil funding, despite being the richest state in America and the world’s fourth largest economy.Through cutting corporate tax loopholes, California can easily provide universal education starting at three years old, all the way through to free community college. This means any Californian can receive a great, free education from walking through the doors in pre K, to walking the stage at graduation.How do we do this?Raise billions in consistent funding for our schools by closing corporate tax loopholes – including the Trump Tax Loophole and the offshore corporate tax loophole.Expand access to UC and CSU.Fund more in-state enrollment so qualified California students are not turned away.Scale smart and safe technology.One-on-one tutoring is one of the most effective ways to boost learning.We will use modern tools to expand access and support teachers in the classroom.Make free school meals permanent.No child should struggle to learn because they are hungry.We will ensure universal healthy school meals are funded year-round.STOP MASKED ICE AGENTS FROM TERRORIZING CALIFORNIANSWhen it comes to ICE — you can’t reform a criminal organization. We watched Alex Pretti and Renee Good be brutally killed in Minnesota by Trump’s masked agents while trying to speak up for their neighbors. We’ve seen continued reports of the tens of thousands of friends, neighbors, and colleagues who have been snatched off the streets, separated from their families, and disappeared to detention centers and prison camps.We’re living through a dystopian reality, and it’s never been more important that we have state leadership that will stand up to this administration.How do we do this?Abolish and demolish ICE.If ICE agents break California law, the state will levy the full weight and resources of the California justice system and prosecute to the fullest extent. Criminals will answer for their crimes.California does not cooperate with criminals. We will defend our values and status as a sanctuary state.DEFEND THE CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTGood climate policy will make life for Californians not only healthier but more affordable – and the cheaper, faster, and better technologies needed to make this future possible already exist. This is how we will build a competitive, 21st-century economy, rooted in health, security, and economic opportunity.California is the 4th largest economy in the world, and we also lead the world in environmental protections and progressive climate policies. Our state has developed and implemented some of the most forward-looking and ambitious climate policy on the planet, while retaining an innovative and thriving economy.For over 15 years Tom has been at the front of the climate movement as an activist, philanthropist, and business leader. In 2010, he defended California’s landmark emissions reduction legislation (Cap & Trade), working with allies across labor and environmental justice to defeat Big Oil. In 2025, he rallied the public to help secure its reauthorization, delivering over $28 billion over the last decade in funding for clean energy, clean infrastructure, and well-paying California jobs.Tom was co-chair and chief backer of Proposition 39, contributing $29.6 million to pass the measure which raised over $1.7 billion. The policy was designed to ensure the revenue was earmarked for school energy retrofits, creating union jobs.California is uniquely positioned to continue to lead, further cementing itself at the forefront of clean energy, innovation, climate mitigation, and adaptation. Nowhere else in the world has the technologies, talent, and resources to lead on climate like we can.How do we do this?Make polluters pay.Make climate polluters, not taxpayers or consumers, pay to address the effects of climate pollution.Set the global standard for fire prevention, management, and disaster response.Make life more affordable for all Californians by deploying new technologies to advance clean and green solutions.Electrification = decarbonization. Make electricity cheap.Make the most advanced technologies like home batteries, rooftop solar, heatpumps, and EVs accessible to all.Lead the world in climate research, environmental research, R&D, sequestration and clean energy technology – regardless of what Washington thinks.Bring environmental justice into policymaking considerations.Name and address the structural racism that has impacted the health and livelihood of communities across California.Staunchly defend California’s landmark climate laws and governing bodies, including the California Air Resources Board, Cap & Trade, and climate disclosure laws.Lead in nature based solutions.California will lead the world in fire prevention, forest management, new sequestration technologies, and regenerative agriculture.ENSURE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL CALIFORNIANSTom knows quality health care is a right, not a privilege – and that there’s too much profit, and not enough health care, in our health care system. That’s why he’s been endorsed by the California Nurses Association, and progressive single payer health care champions like Congressman Ro Khanna and Representative Ash Kalra, the author of Cal-Care.Our next governor must face the facts. California’s current system is unsustainable for working people and businesses. Health care spending and insurance rates continue to rise well above the rate of economic growth. The total average family premium – the combination of employer and employee costs – now exceeds $25K, and is up 52% over the last decade. This year, employers are expected to face their largest increase in health care costs in 15 years, with much of that cost passed to employees.Have these costs led to healthier and happier communities? No. They’ve lined the pockets of middle-men and insurance executives, whose entire business model is to deliver the least amount of care at the highest possible cost.Tom believes strongly that the only way we’ll reduce health care costs, expand coverage, and promote public health when it is under attack from the Trump administration is through a single-payer system. And he is committed to getting California there.As the largest and most powerful state, California will set an example for the rest of the United States to follow.How do we do this?Provide universal coverage.Build a system that covers everyone with the full range of health care services, regulates rates, and includes a robust network of coordinated care.Hold down costs and reward quality.Insurance companies and middle-men squeeze every dollar from our health care system and gouge patients on cost of care.It’s time to cut them out and set rates based on what’s best for patients and public health, not the bottom line.Defend our health system, especially in rural California.The Trump administration is stealing from the most vulnerable in our state by siphoning money from our hospitals in the form of corporate tax breaks.Tom will reverse this wealth transfer and tax corporations and billionaires – including Trump himself – to keep our hospitals open.Never sacrifice on quality.California has built the world’s most advanced health care and biomedical research ecosystem, and will remain so.Tom will guarantee universal access to advanced treatments. Every Californian should have access to these treatments, not just the wealthy.MAKE SURE ALL CALIFORNIANS BENEFIT FROM AIFor generations, people have built their fortunes in California. But those fortunes should never come at the expense of working people. Here in the state that made AI possible, we win as a team – or not at all.As the risks and opportunities of this technology come into clearer focus, it’s more important than ever for California to have courageous leaders at the helm. We can’t let the AI era leave workers behind the way globalization left auto and manufacturing workers behind in the last century. We need to invest in tools that support and empower workers, not replace them. Because the California dream doesn’t work without work. Tom believes that the people who stand to profit the most from this technology shouldn’t be making the rules about how it is used. Otherwise, the AI era will be another boom for billionaires – and a bust for everyone else. As governor, Tom will stand behind companies that lead with integrity. He’ll create more of the jobs humans do best. He will make sure all Californians profit from the AI boom. He’ll expand opportunities for companies beyond the biggest and most powerful few. And he’ll put safeguards in place to hold every company accountable for keeping Californians safe. How do we do this?Protect working people and families.Tom will make sure we protect workers and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs that AI can’t do. Regardless of its potential, AI will not replace all thinking and creative jobs. While it may make them faster or more efficient, no machine can replace our innate creativity, compassion, and experience – the uniquely human things we bring to our work. Tom will partner with labor to adopt reasonable guardrails for AI use in the workplace – especially when it comes to privacy, health, safety, and fairness. Tom will require social media platforms to conduct safety audits and strictly enforce age requirements, including requiring independent safety testing to make sure models are safe before they go on the market. Data centers should never cost California families a cent. Tom will mandate that data centers ensure energy prices for families go down – not up. Tom will ban social media for kids under 16, because the link between social media use and the youth mental health crisis is clear. There must be human oversight of AI with the ability to override, especially in critical areas like hospitals. Make sure Californians get a piece of the huge wealth created by AI.As governor, Tom will ask voters to approve the creation of the Golden State Sovereign Wealth Fund, a dedicated investment vehicle funded by a "token tax" on corporate AI use – a fraction of a cent for every unit of data processed by Big Tech. Tom will make sure everyone benefits from AI, not just a handful of Silicon Valley billionaires.These dollars will help ensure everyday Californians share in the AI boom, through cash dividends, investments in education, training, and job opportunities to help workers succeed, and strategic investments to ensure broad-based economic growth so every Californian can get ahead.Make sure California continues to lead the way on AI — and not just in Silicon Valley.Tom will leverage AI to solve California’s hardest problems, from curing diseases, to strengthening public services, to preventing and detecting wildfires. Tom will make sure a handful of big companies aren’t the sole architects of that transformation. Tom will make clear to the thugs and grifters in the Trump administration: California built the AI industry, and we won’t let you break it.As governor, Tom will support small businesses and “little tech” – startups and entrepreneurs working at the frontier of AI development.Tom will ensure colleges, universities, startups, and small businesses have the low-cost computing power they need to innovate. — Tom Steyer's campaign website (April 8, 2026)Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.