Tom Steyer is pitching his gubernatorial campaign as a fight between working Californians and corporate power, running on a platform that includes single-payer healthcare, taxing oil company windfall profits and cutting electric utility rates by at least 25%.

At a media briefing hosted by American Community Media on May 26, Steyer framed his candidacy as an effort to take on corporations he says are driving up the cost of living across California.

Steyer, 68, is a climate activist, businessman and former 2020 presidential candidate. He is also the only billionaire currently running for governor, a fact he addressed directly while arguing that corporate money has shaped the broader race.

“I am the only billionaire running for governor, but I am very far from the only billionaire in this race,” he told reporters.

Steyer has self-funded much of his campaign and has faced nearly $50 million in opposition spending from corporations and business groups, including Chevron, Meta, PG&E, realtor groups, Airbnb and the California Medical Association, one of the state’s most powerful anti-single-payer lobby groups.

“Judge me by my enemies,” he has said in one campaign video.

Steyer contrasted his campaign with that of Xavier Becerra, whom he described as his leading “corporate Democrat” opponent. He said Becerra received the maximum legal contribution through the California Medical Association’s political action committee, along with $500,000 from Chevron and $950,000 from Meta a day before the company fired 10% of its workforce.

When Becerra was asked on television last week what he would do differently as governor, Steyer said the answer amounted to little more than satisfaction with the status quo, describing it as “‘We seem to be doing pretty well,’ kind of ‘steady as she goes.’”

“If you want no change, if you want the corporations to continue to drive up our costs, there’s a candidate for that,” Steyer said. “I’m the person who is unequivocally, with no conflicts, working for working people, that’s my only interest. That’s going to be my measuring stick of success.”

Affordability and Corporate Power

Steyer’s campaign centers on affordability, which he framed as the defining issue facing California families.

“Californians can’t afford to live in California anymore,” he said, arguing that the crisis is being driven by unchecked corporate power and rising costs in housing, healthcare, energy and utilities.

He pledged to build one million homes Californians can afford, pointing to an Oakland-based nonprofit community bank that he and his wife founded. According to Steyer, the bank has already financed 17,000 low-income housing units.

Steyer also highlighted his work on the School Meals for All initiative, which made California the first state to guarantee free breakfast and lunch to all public school students. He also founded a nonprofit that has registered more than 1.3 million young voters nationwide and spearheaded Proposition 39, which directed $1 billion annually to school energy upgrades and clean energy jobs by closing an out-of-state corporate tax loophole.

He proposed closing another corporate property tax loophole, which he called the “Trump Tax Loophole,” to reclaim $20 billion for schools and healthcare.

“I’m for shared prosperity. We are not sharing the prosperity. We have the highest poverty rate in the United States of America. Our school systems need to get much better. We need to deliver health care as a right, we need to make this a state where people can think they can buy a house again and can afford rent,” he said.

Utility Rates and Energy Costs

Steyer said California’s utility rates are another example of corporate power harming working families.

Californians pay nearly twice the national average for electric utilities. Steyer pledged to cut rates by at least 25% by restructuring how the Public Utilities Commission operates and allowing local competition to challenge utility monopolies.

“You don’t have to take my word for it,” he said, pointing to PG&E’s spending against his campaign.

PG&E alone has spent $13.5 million against Steyer, and $17 million when including other utility companies such as SoCal Edison and Sempra.

On gasoline prices, Steyer called for a windfall profits tax on oil companies, with the revenue going directly back to Californians affected by rising prices rather than into the general fund.

He argued that the Iran conflict has added about $1.50 per gallon at the pump without costing Chevron anything.

“They are gouging us,” he said. “The head of the Western States Petroleum Association has said they have a duty to gouge us.”

Steyer also argued that renewable energy should be treated as a cost-saving tool for families.

“Clean energy is cheaper. We need to deploy it, and we need to put money in the pockets of Californians.”

Single-payer Healthcare

Healthcare is another central part of Steyer’s campaign. He supports single-payer healthcare and said California’s current system is not sustainable.

“Healthcare is a right for every Californian,” Steyer said. “The idea that the system we have is sustainable is not true, because what we’re seeing every year is the state taking away healthcare in one way or another from Californians.”

Healthcare costs have generally risen at twice the rate of inflation for 50 years. Recent federal Medi-Cal cuts under the “One Big Beautiful Bill” have created an estimated $9 billion hole in California’s budget, met with just over $100 million in the May budget revision.

Steyer acknowledged that moving to a full state single-payer system would require a federal waiver and a more cooperative administration in Washington. Still, he said he would begin the process on day one and pointed to nurses unions’ endorsement as evidence of his seriousness.

He also said he was prepared to challenge pharmaceutical companies to bring down healthcare costs.

“I know where they’re taking advantage, rigging the system and screwing Californians … I’m on Team California, and I want Team California to win every time.”

Immigration and ICE

On immigration, Steyer has taken one of the most aggressive positions in the field.

He called Immigration and Customs Enforcement “a criminal organization that breaks the laws in California” and said, “We need immigration services, but we don’t need a criminal organization.”

Steyer supports abolishing ICE, though he acknowledged that a governor cannot do that unilaterally. He said what a governor can do is pursue prosecutions when federal agents violate California law.

“I will prosecute ICE agents for racially profiling Californians. That is illegal here. I will prosecute ICE agents for using violence against Californians,” he said, adding that he would pursue accountability “up the chain as far as Stephen Miller.”

Steyer also pledged to demand inspections of California’s federal immigration detention facilities and to fund a state legal defense fund for people facing deportation, modeled on a private fund he and his wife launched in 2018.

President Donald Trump responded to Steyer’s immigration policies by attacking him online, as did ICE.

“I considered both of those validations that I am doing the right thing,” Steyer said. “The job of the governor of California is to stand between violence, between terror, between racial profiling and the people of California. I’m going to do that for immigrants in this state every single time.”

Criminal Justice and Private Prisons

Steyer also faced a question about his hedge fund’s investment in the private prison company CoreCivic 22 years ago.

He described the stake as a mistake that he recognized and sold within a year.

“I made a mistake, I admitted it, but I also did a U-turn … I spent years trying to make sure that I was more than making up for it.”

Steyer pointed to two decades of criminal justice work that followed. He backed a successful bill to replace cash bail with pre-trial risk assessments, worked to end automatic sentence enhancements and supported a successful bill phasing out private prisons statewide.

He also noted that he is the only candidate endorsed by Smart Justice California, one of the state’s largest rehabilitative justice advocacy organizations.

Election Day Pitch

As voters head to the polls, Steyer is presenting himself as a candidate willing to confront corporations, utility companies, oil companies, pharmaceutical companies and federal immigration enforcement.

“The special interests are spending record money against me, but working people and labor unions are lined up behind me,” Steyer said. “I will take on the corporate special interests and fight for working Californians every single day … I thought there would be a lot of people trying to do what I’m doing, but it turns out I’m the only one, and that’s why I’m asking people for their vote.”

Election Day is today, so get out and vote California.

 

Image courtesy of American Community Media