Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer formally endorsed Hillary Clinton after sitting out the Democratic nominating process. | AP Photo Tom Steyer rips into Pence for alienating LGBT community

St. Louis — Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist and Hillary Clinton supporter, on Friday harshly criticized Donald Trump’s selection of Mike Pence as his running mate, saying the move is alienating to LGBT Americans.

“I thought it was classic that Trump chose someone who had vilified another part of our community — the LGBT part of our community,” Steyer said, while moderating a panel at the Netroots Nation conference. “[Trump] went out of his way to get a vice presidential running mate who had actually gone after part of America that he hadn’t personally gone after yet.”


Though he’s raised money for Clinton in the past, Steyer only endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee last month after the primary process had wrapped up.

As his panel finished, Steyer described this year as the “generation-defining election of our lifetime.” The differences between the candidates are just so great, he said — adding that he believes “2016 will be like 1932.”

Steyer noted to POLITICO as he walked through the conference hall that Pence was the first governor to sign a bill specifically discriminating against homosexuals. “Indiana was the first state,” he said. “I think that’s unconscionable.”