Tom Steyer (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Billionaire investor and Democratic megadonor Tom Steyer’s massive spending on TV ads in two early primary states boosted his polling numbers and propelled him to Tuesday’s Democratic primary debate stage.

Steyer is only polling at about 2 percent nationally, according to FiveThirtyEight’s average of polls. However, Steyer is in second place at 15 percent in South Carolina and third place at 12 percent in Nevada, according to recent polls conducted by Fox News. Steyer jumped 11 points in South Carolina since Fox’s last poll in October, and 7 points in Nevada since Fox’s last poll in November.

Steyer’s increase in the polls in South Carolina and Nevada can be attributed to his aggressive ad campaign in those states. Steyer has spent about $14.1 million on ads in South Carolina since mid-November, and about $10.4 million on ads in Nevada in about the same time, according to data from Advertising Analytics and published by NBC News.

Steyer has outspent his rivals in South Carolina and Nevada by a significant margin. In Nevada, the second highest spending Democratic candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), only spent about $147,000, and in South Carolina the second highest spending Democratic candidate, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, only spent about $1 million.

However, Tom Steyer isn’t competing with fellow billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in South Carolina and Nevada. Bloomberg is focusing on national advertising, the Super Tuesday states and the states that hold primaries after Super Tuesday.

Even though Bloomberg entered the race in late November, about four months after Steyer officially entered, Bloomberg has already spent over $200 million dollars on TV and digital ads. Tom Steyer has spent over $100 million since he began his campaign in early July. Both Steyer and Bloomberg, the top two Democratic donors over the last decade, are almost entirely self-financed.

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To qualify for Tuesday’s debate, Democratic primary candidates needed at least 225,000 donors and at least 1,000 donors in at least 20 states. The candidates must also poll at 5 percent or higher in at least four of any of the qualifying polls released from Nov. 14 to Jan. 10 or poll at 7 percent or higher in two polls in the four early primary states. Steyer qualified through the latter polling method.

Steyer secured enough donors partially through his online ad campaign, which encouraged people to donate $1 to his campaign. These ads helped Steyer gain enough individual donors to qualify for the debate, but that money is a small portion of his campaign’s finances. At the end of the third quarter of 2019, almost 96 percent of Steyer’s $47.5 million in campaign funds had come from self-financing.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) failed to poll high enough to qualify for the debate, and Monday he suspended his campaign for president. Andrew Yang and Bloomberg also failed to make the debate stage due to low poll numbers and lack of donors, respectively.

The Democratic primary debate will take place at 9 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Steyer’s appearance on the debate stage will give him an opportunity to appeal to a national audience and discuss his priorities, such as climate change.

It is the first Democratic debate of 2020, and it marks the last chance candidates have to appeal to Iowa voters before the Feb. 3 caucuses. The debate will feature Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Steyer. It will be the first Democratic debate not to feature a candidate of color. Since there will be an even number of candidates, no candidate will occupy a single middle podium. Sanders and Biden will share the two middle podiums.

Follow the money behind the candidates on the debate stage.



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