Billionaire Tom Steyer Likely to Make the September Debate

In just five weeks, presidential hopeful Tom Steyer has gathered enough individual donors to appear in the next Democratic primary debate. 

Now, all he needs to do is reach 2% support in one more qualifying poll by August 28th.

“I’m proud to tell you that more than 130,000 people have invested in our campaign – a campaign run on the idea that, as Americans, we deserve more of a say in what happens to our country than a foreign oligarch or corporation does,” wrote Steyer in an email to his supporters.

Tom Steyer is a former hedge fund manager and longtime Democratic activist. Two years ago, he founded the “Need to Impeach” group that has attracted more than 8 million people. This year, his net worth reached $1.6 billion.

When Steyer announced his presidential bid in July, he promised to invest $100 million in his campaign.

So far, he has spent nearly $4 million on TV and Facebook ads focused on his goal of ‘ending the hostile corporate takeover of our democracy.’

As you can imagine, rivals Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren aren’t too happy about a billionaire entering the race.

“Democratic primary should not be decided by billionaires, whether they’re funding Super PACs or funding themselves,” tweeted Warren. “The strongest Democratic nominee in the general will have a coalition that’s powered by a grassroots movement.”

Sanders told reporters that he was “a bit tired of seeing billionaires trying to buy political power.”

Sanders and Warren are among nine candidates who have already met the requirements to appear in the next debate, which will be held September 12th-13th in Houston.

Editor’s Note: Steyer has the “Trump advantage” in that he does not need to rely on big donors to keep his campaign going.  He does not need to gain momentum right now, he has plenty of time because he is in no danger of being forced to quit. Right now, Steyer is the most dangerous candidate both to Trump and to the Democratic Primary field of candidates.