Billionaire Steyer Will Give $16 million to Democrats Over the Next 11 Days

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Billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer is planning to conclude his massive spending in the 2018 congressional midterm elections with a $16 million contribution this month to all of his political organizations, CNBC has reported.

An aide to Steyer spoke anonymously and said that the philanthropist and liberal activist will be splurging in the final 11 days before the midterm elections. The aide said he feels passionately about expanding his “mission” which is to help Democrats unseat Republican candidates throughout the United States.

The new $16 million amount is just a part of the $120 million that Steyer is spending this year, the aide said.

All year Steyer has been working diligently behind the scenes to boost Democratic candidates through his Need to Impeach campaign. He also has been using his super PAC, called the NextGen Climate Action Committee, which has been one of the most active committees this election season.

So far, NextGen Climate Action Committee, has raised $42 million and spent $1.3 million backing Democrats, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. It’s also put out more than $663,000 against Republicans.

This was confirmed yesterday in a tweet from MSNBC host Ari Melber.

“I’m very concerned about the safety and health of everybody that I work with” but we can’t “let this kind of terrorism change our participation” Billionaire Democratic donor @TomSteyer responds to pipe bomb packages sent to high-profile Dems”

In addition to the PAC, Steyer himself has spent $41 million supporting Democrats running for Congress and gave at least $2 million to a PAC backing Florida’s Democratic governor candidate, Andrew Gillum.

Steyer has also raised millions for Democratic candidates through fundraisers and working with other influential nonprofits.

Billionaire Steyer’s top Republican targets have been Nevada Senate Republican Dean Heller and California House Republicans Dana Rohrabacher, Steve Knight and Mimi Walters.

Democrats must pick up at least 23 seats in the House of Representatives in order to regain the majority and take control. Based on the latest projections Democrats have a very good chance of taking control of the House but a very poor chance of taking control of the U.S. Senate.

Nate Silver‘s FiveThirtyEight.com gives Democrats an 84.5 percent chance of retaking the House but only a 17.7 percent chance of taking the majority in the Senate.

From the very beginning, one of Steyer’s primary goals has been to get President Donald Trump impeached. In fact, his move to impeach to Trump is the main message he’s been using in his efforts to persuade American voters to choose Democratic candidates instead of Republican candidates on November 6.

He has been asking voters to sign his Need to Impeach petition all year. He has been somewhat successful in that the petition has been signed by more than 6 million people so far.

Steyer also got involved in the fight about the confirmation of former D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a Facebook post at the time Steyer wrote:

“Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh not only does not believe sitting presidents should be investigated or prosecuted — he may have committed sexual assault.”

Through his nonprofit NextGen America, Steyer has been working to educate voters on climate change and the need to protect the environment.

Another pet issue of Steyer’s is supporting universal health care in the United States. In May he tweeted:

“Health care should be a right for all Americans. It’s hard to remember all the ways Mr. Trump and Republicans hurt our country, but intentionally sabotaging the healthcare system may be the most profound.”

There is no question that Tom Steyer is doing everything he can to use his personal fortune to make a difference in American politics. There is no guarantee that his money will help all of his chosen candidates win, but it certainly hasn’t been hurting. In fact, in some close races his financial support may be what makes the difference in carrying Democrats to victory in 2018.

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Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.