Tom Steyer proves things can get worse than Gavin Newsom in California

Tom Steyer proves one thing about California politics: As bad as things get, they can always get worse.

After Jerry Brown, a true intellectual whose ideas were often at odds with reality, we got Gavin Newsom, an ideological fashionista driven by vainglory and ambition.

The two combined to create a California reality that worked for their friends — greens, oligarchs, nonprofits and public employees — at the expense of pretty much everyone else.

Now our political descent seems to be accelerating. Unless Steve Hilton pulls off an unexpected miracle, our likely next governor will either be the utterly uninspiring Xavier Becerra or, even worse, private-equity-billionaire-turned-progressive-firebrand Tom Steyer.

Under Becerra, a man who impresses few here or anywhere else, we will get a zombie Newsom, a faithful follower of the familiar priorities of the all-powerful Democratic machine. Steyer, on the other hand, represents something even more lethal: One environmental lawyer called him “a raging narcissistic lunatic” who would make Newsom seem, well, like Pete Wilson.

To my shock, recent casual conversations with upper-class Democrats show a hard-to-explain attraction for Steyer.

To be sure, Steyer is polling third, behind Becerra and Hilton. 

But Becerra, besides being a nonentity, is threatened by a scandal involving his own campaign funds. Tom Steyer is spending millions, and even tens of millions, to convince the public that Becerra is just another corrupt machine politician. 

So, what would happen if Steyer became governor? As a longtime funder of enviro groups, he would no doubt double down on climate stupidity — accelerating the destructive drive to net zero emissions, stifling what is left of our once-powerful fossil fuel industry, and forcing future housing development by building the pack-and-stack housing most Californians do not want.

At a time when “apocalyptic environmentalism” is losing its grip, with even New York reconsidering its climate goals, and Newsom is looking to keep some remnant of our oil and gas industry, Steyer is unlikely to budge — and he might even expand the green machine.

Steyer continues to claim “green energy” is cheaper, which would be something of a surprise to consumers in Britain, Germany and California, all places where gas and electricity prices are among the highest in the world.

Steyer can’t change because he is environmental zealot, a convert-turned-inquisitor with a cause. His green fixation was the basis for his ridiculous, and ridiculously expensive (to the tune of roughly $200 million) presidential ego trip in 2024. He would be unlikely to rescue California from its self-imposed energy crisis; it is doubtful he would allow private refineries to operate for long, permit nuclear power, or approve a pipeline that would bring American gas into the country. 

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More dangerous still, Steyer seems to be rehearsing to become California’s own Juan Perón. Unlike Newsom, Steyer, with an estimated fortune of $2 billion, has no need for support from the oligarchs or public sector union money. Indeed, one reason Newsom allies oppose Steyer, my sources say, is that his wealth insulates himself from the need to appease them. 

Yet that same independence would allow a Gov. Steyer to be reckless, particularly with taxpayer money. He made his fortune on such things as coal and private prisons, but has shown a willingness to adopt the furthest-left positions on such things as the wealth tax, single-payer health care, and data centers. Having made his money, he seems fine with making sure middle-income California taxpayers, already burdened, pay up big-time for his quasi-socialist dream.

Steyer takes the old Leninist idea of “useful idiots” to an extreme. He has allied with the most radical elements of the Democratic Party, recruiting the same people who helped socialist Zohran Mamdani become mayor of New York. 

Even the ferociously anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic Cenk Uygur is now in the Steyer camp and seems to be winning over influencer Hasan Piker, another public figure of the same ilk. Steyer is alleged to have spent large sums on recruiting other Internet personalities. 

Since eco-hysteria does not play so well, class warfare, waged against his own class, seems to be his idea of a winning formula. And given California’s enormous inequality today, this may appeal more to voters than the milquetoast gentry progressivism of the Newsom-Becerra crowd. 

It all sounds so absurd that it could work.

As in the run-up to New York’s mayoral race, the party establishment was unable to find an even halfway appealing candidate. Kamala Harris, Sen. Alex Padilla, Rob Bonta — all could have pushed Steyer into single digits. Becerra, a presumptive “frontrunner,” is still far from a shoe-in.

Sadly, the two Democrats who might have turned things around — former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan — have failed to break single digits. Both have appeared willing to take on the many progressive NGOs that have backed Steyer, as well as tackle the corruption and insane rule-making dysfunction that is all too evident in Sacramento. But in the end, they could not keep up with either the machine or Steyer’s mega-bucks.

Now we have a significant chance of actually making things worse. Becerra will be predictably bad, but not outrageously so. Reality will find its way to him, or at least with his advisers and donors.

In contrast, Steyer — free to do as he pleases — could take the final steps toward the annihilation of the California middle class, a man unmoored to any reality but his own.

Joel Kotkin is the presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University and Senior Research Fellow at the Civitas Institute of the University of Texas at Austin.