WASHINGTON — In the last days before the midterm elections, Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist who spent at least $57 million of his own money to influence Tuesday’s outcome — more than any other single donor — set off on a frenetic get-out-the-vote tour to Colorado, Iowa and finally New Hampshire. There, he told business owners in Portsmouth that climate change is an economic issue, thanked college students in Durham for knocking on doors, and gave a pep talk to canvassers in Dover before they fanned out to collect voter data on their smartphones.

After all that, Mr. Steyer appears to have largely wasted his time and money.

Most of his candidates lost, even though Mr. Steyer, his advocacy organization NextGen Climate, and other environmental groups spent a total of about $85 million — a magnitude greater than they had ever spent in any election year.

“It was a comedy disaster,” said Mike Murphy, a longtime Republican political strategist. “The worst thing that happened to the environment this cycle is the bonfire from Tom Steyer burning $80 million on a wasted campaign.”

Of the seven Senate and governors’ races in which NextGen Climate spent to elect Democrats, only three Democrats won: For the Senate in New Hampshire and Michigan, and in Pennsylvania for governor. The money the group poured into influencing Senate races in Colorado and Iowa and governors’ races in Florida and Maine did nothing to stave off the wave of Republican victories in those states.