Steyer hopes to make climate change a top-tier issue in the election. Steyer plans $100M campaign push

Liberal billionaire Tom Steyer is laying plans to go big in the 2014 election.

The former hedge fund manager is hoping to spend $100 million — $50 million from his personal fortune and $50 million from other donors — to make climate change a top-tier issue in the election, The New York Times is reporting.


A person close to Steyer confirmed the $100 million figure to POLITICO but cautioned that it is not a ceiling.

Steyer and his group NextGen Climate Action have emerged over the last year as a major player in the growing world of money and politics, a realm in which court decisions such as the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling have tossed out much of the old rulebook.

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He spent millions on the 2013 Massachusetts Senate and Virginia governor’s races, helping Democrats Ed Markey and Terry McAuliffe prevail, and has become one of the most outspoken opponents of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. The group has also showed signs it’s willing to go after Democrats who support Keystone, possibly including vulnerable Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu.

On Wednesday, Steyer’s home will be the site of a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser, with scheduled attendees including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, one of the Hill’s most outspoken climate advocates.

Steyer’s ambitious $100 million plan would rocket him into the big leagues. As the Times put it, the move would make NextGen “among the largest outside groups in the country, similar in scale to the conservative political network overseen by Charles and David Koch.”

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Steyer has said for months that he wants to get involved in the 2014 mid-terms, but until now his plans have been vague. Steyer, who has largely self-funded his previous campaigns, is actively seeking to recruit big donors. He pitched Democratic donors and wealthy environmentalists on his 2014 plans in February at his ranch in California, according to The Times.

While Steyer hasn’t outlined a full list of his 2014 targets, the Times says early contenders include the Florida governor’s race and the Iowa Senate race.

And in the latest signal that rejecting Keystone will be one of his top priorities going into the election, Steyer will brief people attending Wednesday’s DSCC event about new polling about the pipeline, the person close to Steyer said. The polling will be released publicly Thursday.

Besides Reid and Whitehouse, senators scheduled to attend include Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Mark Udall of Colorado, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.

The Wednesday evening dinner fundraiser is being co-hosted by longtime San Francisco-based climate and Democratic donors Susie Tompkins Buell and her husband Mark Buell, as well as Lorna and Wade Randlett. Wade Randlett is chairman and co-founder of Enagra Holdings, a holding company for renewable energy projects.

Darren Goode contributed to this report.