“I write a cross on my hand to remind myself to tell the truth, no matter what the cost.' In a wide-ranging interview with ABC News, Tom Steyer speaks at length about his faith, his fortune—and his chances at upending the 2020 Democratic primary.
The California billionaire who will make his national political debut next week in the fourth Democratic primary debate is one of the nation’s richest men, but has turned up to West Coast political meetings in outfits that, as one observer put it, “couldn’t have cost more than $150 in total.”
In a wide-ranging interview with ABC News which touched far more on the personal than the political, Steyer spoke at length about his faith, his fortune, his quirks and his passions. "Since religion is important to him, maybe I can say this," Castellanos said as he prepared to paraphrase a famous quote from the Bible."It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to gain the Democratic nomination for president."
"People always say to me, 'are you sorry you invested in fossil fuels?' And I'm like, 'We invested in everything.' Am I sorry that I realized it had this horrible issue with it? Do I wish I realized it earlier? Yes. Of course I do. Thank you. I wish I were smarter. Thank you. I didn't realize it would be better if I were smarter.
"The way that these billionaires make their money may be perfectly acceptable and understandable in the business community itself, but when you try to parlay that into a Democratic campaign, a lot of that is going to come back and haunt you," said West Coast political consultant Garry South. He has flirted with public office before, but never formally run. He had been contemplating running to win the California governorship in 2018, but stepped aside in deference to his friend, current California Governor Jerry Brown -- though a sense of frustration over that race appears to linger within the Steyer family.
But his passion for the outdoors may have began much earlier, said his brother Jim, a Stanford University political science professor. “My parents’ house was not particularly religious,” he continued. “They had different religions. My father was brought up Jewish he was quite irreligious … My mother was quite religious.
“She was a contradiction in terms: a devout Episcopalian,” Steyer said with a grin. “She voted for Shirley Chisolm in '72. She was railing for civil rights and against Vietnam. She was a very hard-ass progressive." “I write a cross on my hand to remind myself to tell the truth, no matter what the cost,” he told ABC News, displaying the pen-inked cross.
“I don’t think I’m comparable to other billionaires,” he responded sharply. “Where are the other billionaires who spent 10 years building coalitions?" he challenged a reporter.But Steyer pivots easily back to his light-hearted self in response to a simpler point of contention: which of the three Steyer brothers is the “funny one.”
“Look you’ve got to be part of the positive life force,” he said. “You’ve got to find your way to the positive life force. I mean someone in my background can’t believe there’s only one way. And I don’t. And you have to find it. But you choose it. I have a friend who says “GOD: Great OutDoors.” Fine. If you can do it, fine.
Steyer met his wife, Katherine Taylor -- known to those close to her as “Kat” -- at Stanford University and the couple married in 1986.
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