Tom Steyer to join U.S. Democratic debate in October

[left-of-center2012]

U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Tom Steyer, a billionaire environmentalist and political donor, said on Sunday he has qualified to participate in the fourth Democratic debate in October, putting him on stage alongside the leading contenders for the first time.

The 62-year-old former hedge fund manager from San Francisco, who is not well-known beyond political circles, will be one of 11 candidates who has met the Democratic National Committee's minimum requirements to participate in the Ohio debate on Oct. 15-16.

Steyer launched his self-funded campaign to win the White House in November 2020 on July 9 after saying earlier this year that he would not run and focus on efforts to impeach President Donald Trump. His campaign is focusing on getting corporate money out of U.S. politics.

He has worked for years on climate change and voter engagement and donated about $170 million since 2015 to his independent political action committees, Need to Impeach and NextGen America.

During the 2017-2018 election cycle, he was the second-largest donor to Democratic and liberal candidates and causes, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-7441129/Billionaire-Tom-Steyer-clears-hurdle-join-U-S-Democratic-debate-October.html

[Linda Ed]

1. Good News

Glad to hear this as he will bring up a great deal of corruption on drumpf!

[JI7]

2. Steyer is trying to stop Warren

[Bayard]

5. Why do you say that?

[Blue_true]

11. Do you mind explaining more? nt

[JI7]

15. Warren has already been talking about the things he claims are the reasons he is running

and his going after her as being establishment and the usual crap we hear from some others.

i think he might have a problem with women in leadership positions.

[Blue_true]

16. Thanks. nt

[secondwind]

3. I like this news, it would be good to hear more from him, besides tv ads.

[PoliticAverse]

7. It's 2019. You can visit any major candidate's webpage or visit youtube and peruse litterally hours

of information.

[NCLefty]

13. Yeah, but that's all polished stuff.

I don't mind him in 1 debate. We just did some nice pruning. There will be more soon.

[StevieM]

4. I am glad he will be in the debate.

He deserves a chance to be heard.

[PoliticAverse]

6. He's got gobs of money and as a result I've "heard" him through youtube ads. n/t

[StevieM]

8. And now he will get to be heard in the debates.

Plenty of other candidates have had that opportunity, and now Steyer will get one too. He made the debates fair and square.

[andym]

9. He's a billionaire who's put his money into good causes

Beyond helping Democratic candidates, environmental policies and pursuing impeachment, he created or co-created the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy at Stanford University, Risky Business Project, the Onecalifornia Bank, which serves the underserved and joined the Breakthrough Energy Coalition (according to Wikipedia).
So I think he can add some unique perspective to the debates, though it's pretty unlikely he will become a top-tier candidate.

[tritsofme]

10. He is the definition of a vanity candidate.

[Blue_true]

12. I disagree. He has been involved in progressive campaigns for the last decade plus.

I would guess by now he has some idea about what he feels in missing from our primary field.

The October debate will tell us whether he has the chops to win our nomination.

[Celerity]

14. Gabbard will probably make it as well, she only needs one more qualifying poll at 2%

[LAS14]

17. Rats! That means two debates. Not all top candidates will be on the same stage! Rats! nt