Tom Steyer, the former hedge-fund executive and progressive activist, announced his candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday, joining a crowded field.
“If you think that there is something absolutely critical, try as hard as you can and let the chips fall as they may. And that is exactly what I’m doing,” Steyer, 62, said in video declaring his bid.
In his announcement video, Steyer focused heavily on corporate greed and its undue influence on politicians in Washington. He stressed that big business’s avarice is the root cause of major issues such as climate change and the U.S. opioid crisis.
“Almost every single major intractable problem, at the back of it, you see a big money interest for whom stopping progress, stopping justice is really important to their bottom line,” he said.
Steyer made his fortune as the head of an investment firm and is worth roughly $1.6 billion, according to Forbes. He and his wife, Kathryn Taylor, are signatories to the Giving Pledge, a coalition of ultra-wealthy individuals that have promised to give away at least half of their wealth to charitable causes.
“We relish the opportunity to do our part and leave our collective campsite cleaner and better tended than we found it,” the couple wrote in their pledge.
In recent years, Steyer has championed several progessive causes, most notably combating the climate crisis, and has been heavily involved in California politics. He launched the liberal advocacy group NextGen Climate in 2013, which was later renamed to NextGen America following the election of President Trump.
Steyer has also been a leading voice in the impeachment movement against Trump. In 2017, he founded Need to Impeach, which lobbies members of Congress and has since gained over 8.2 million supporters.
“Through the important work of NextGen America and Need to Impeach, which I will continue to support, I've focused on registering & turning out the youth vote, and pressuring Congress to hold this president accountable by beginning impeachment proceedings,” Steyer added on Twitter. “But it's not enough.”
Tuesday’s announcement is a reversal for Steyer. He told The New York Times in January that was would not run for the White House and instead focus on doing “whatever it takes” to remove Trump from office.
Steyer’s entry into the crowded field comes just a day after California Rep. Eric Swalwell became the first candidate to bow out.
via GIPHY
Brazil, the country with the most freshwater resources in the world, has lost 15% of its surface water over the last three decades.
Addressing the nation, President Joe Biden is defending the way the U.S. ended its 20-year “forever war” in Afghanistan.
In his opening remarks for the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the central bank could begin tapering its $120 billion in monthly asset purchases this year.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is facing a recall election in about two weeks. Newsom was elected governor in 2018 with nearly 62% of the vote after working as lieutenant governor for eight years. However, his popularity took a hit after his handling of Covid-19 pandemic, although the White House is refusing to cite this as the direct reason for the September 14th recall election. There are 46 candidates running to be Newsom's replacement, and some are saying that California could end up electing a republican governor.
Jeremy White, California politics reporter and co-writer of daily California Playbook Newsletter at Politico, joined Cheddar Politics to discuss more about the election and its possible outcomes.
President Joe Biden says the United States will complete it's evacuation of Americans and others from Kabul, despite the attack that killed 12 U.S. service members and many Afghan civilians.
Crypto-enthusiasts are taking to social media to urge regular Afghans to adopt bitcoin in the face of considerable economic uncertainty.
The U.S. economy grew at a 6.6% annual rate last quarter, slightly faster than previously estimated, the government said Thursday in a report that pointed to a sustained consumer-led rebound from the pandemic recession.
The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant says it plans to build an undersea tunnel so that massive amounts of treated but still radioactive water can be released into the ocean about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) away from the plant to avoid interference with local fishing.
Two suicide bombers and gunmen have targeted crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport, in the waning days of a massive airlift that has drawn thousands of people seeking to flee the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose for the first time in five weeks even though the economy and job market have been recovering briskly from the coronavirus pandemic.
