Days before the New Hampshire primary, businessman and Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer said that the best strategy to beat President Donald Trump in 2020 is to tackle his handling of the economy. And he's the best candidate to do so, he said.
“I think it’s time that everybody in the Democratic Party realizes what’s happened this weekend and where we really are, which is this: Donald Trump can get re-elected,” Steyer said during an interview with Boston Public Radio on Friday in Manchester, N.H. “I can take him down on the economy because ... I couldn’t do my job if I didn’t know how to create growth, jobs, prosperity.”
Steyer entered the race late with a media blitz that blanketed the airwaves in states like New Hampshire and South Carolina. Utilizing his estimated $1.6 billion net worth, Steyer has already spent more than $100 million on television ads, far more than his competitors except for fellow billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In October, Steyer made his first appearance on the Democratic debate stage, and will join six other candidates on Friday night for the last debate before the New Hampshire primary.
Steyer said that it’s unfair to attribute his success to his bank account. On Friday, Steyer pointed to his success in South Carolina, where he’s currently estimated as polling in second place after former Vice President Joe Biden, and Nevada, where a January poll placed him as being in fourth place, ahead of former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, to his ability to connect with voters of color.
“What’s going on in South Carolina and Nevada is that I am doing really well with black people ... because I address race explicitly,” Steyer said. “I’m the person with a history of standing up for justice in this race across society, including specifically for black and brown people.”
Steyer has spent more than $3 million to offer legal services to immigrants at risk of deportation. On Friday, he rejected the notion that he was buying his way into the race. For over a decade, he said, he has been working to promote liberal candidates and engage younger voters through his nonprofit NextGen America. Despite never having worked in the government before, he said he believes his work in the nonprofit sector has given him adequate experience to not just win the presidency, but be an effective president.
“I’ve been working on this for 12 years,” Steyer said. “I’m the person in this race who knows actually how to win on this, because we’ve done a series of statewide elections around the country and we’ve never lost.”
As for the matter of beating Trump, Steyer said he thinks he is the only candidate who can beat him on the debate stage. Given his time in the private sector, where he ran a multi-billion dollar hedge fund, Steyer said that he is best prepared to challenge Trump on the economy.
Despite criticism from progressives about his work in the financial sector, particularly his prior investments in for-profit jails and the fossil fuel industry — both of which he has divested from — Steyer said on Friday that his message can bring together a large enough coalition to beat Trump in the general election.
“If you don’t have the chops, the experience and the expertise to [debate Trump], you can’t do it, because he’s going to tell a million lies and you got know why they’re untrue,” Steyer said. “This is a Mar-a-Lago economy. That’s what this is.”
